Undergraduate Medicine 2023-2024

The Clinical Skills 1 course introduces the process of diagnosis and treatment through medical history taking, clinical examination, performance of basic clinical procedures and clinical assessment that is appropriate to the patient's needs. In year one the course covers the principles and application of clinical skills, clinical examination and communication skills in general terms and as applied to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. It also introduces students to the clinical environment and to patient centred care and patient safety. The professional and ethical principles of the doctor are introduced and the need for medical students to take personal and professional responsibility for their actions and their learning.

This course is the start of the systems based teaching in the medicine curriculum and incorporates the form and function of the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems in both health and disease and the biomedical principles which underlie them. Diagnosis and management of common respiratory and cardiovascular disease are studied. This course is only available to students in year 1 of the MBChB programme/ year 1 of the B Clin Med Sci programme.

This course delivers the anatomy content for Year 1 MBChB.

The course builds on the process of diagnosis and management through, clinical communication (history taking and explanation and planning), clinical examination, performance of clinical practical procedures and assessment appropriate to patient

Year 2 covers principles and application of clinical skills, in generic and specific terms as applied to the general, respiratory, cardiovascular, alimentary, head and neck, neurological, endocrine, urinary, and musculoskeletal systems. It also builds on students’ exposure to the simulated and clinical environments whilst focusing on patient centred care and patient safety.

The course builds on the process of diagnosis and management through, clinical communication (history taking and explanation and planning), clinical examination, performance of clinical practical procedures and assessment appropriate to patient Year 3 covers principles and application of clinical skills  in specific terms and as applied to the reproductive system and communication skills relevant to psychiatric, paediatric, and breaking bad news. Whilst building exposure to simulated and clinical environments with continued focus on patient centred care and patient safety. 

Alternative projects are your ideas; this is your opportunity to identify a topic of your own choosing to study in depth that considers Medicine and Healthcare from an alternative perspective. Purely Scientific/ Medical projects will not be approved, otherwise there is no limit to the possibilities.

Where possible you should find a suitable person with appropriate expertise to supervise you and to assess your work academically. The Medical Humanities team may be able to help you find a suitable supervisor.

This course allows you to explore visual art and its relationship to anatomy and medicine through practical artistic engagement.

The course will involve weekly practical sessions including life drawing and lecture/seminars on key artists/concepts that might influence your work. You will create an artistic portfolio and reflect on influences and feedback and document progress towards a final piece to form part of the student exhibition.

There will also be visits to support the students planning the exhibition and they will make the arrangements for this exhibition.

This course introduces students to the crucible of the modern age. Hinging on the French and 1848 Revolutions, it explores how men and women in elite and popular communities generated new modes of living, experience and expression and how they understood and manipulated the natural world. Attention will be given to the Enlightenment, Revolution, Empire, Romanticism and Ideology with interrelated developments in politics, culture and science also being explored. Students will be introduced to the works of figures such as Newton, Kant, Hume, Herder, Marx, Darwin and Nietzsche.

This course provides an intensive introduction to the Spanish language for students with little or no previous knowledge of Spanish. It concentrates on the four basic language skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening comprehension. Students attend 2 lectures and 1 grammar seminar per week and attend a further tutorial focusing on spoken Spanish. Students are also required to pursue private study and to submit regular written work

The course is designed to offer students the opportunity to develop their creativity and practical literary skills in a highly supportive, constructive learning environment. It also introduces students to some of the key processes and challenges involved in publishing creative written work, whether poetry or prose.

The teaching process consists of regular, carefully targeted critical advice and guidance from the class tutor and peer evaluation from class members in a workshop environment. Examples of writing by both recognised authors and class members will be used to stimulate both the appreciation and practical application of the basic principles of effective creative writing.

Resources available for the provision and payment for health care are limited.

However, knowledge of economics helps ensure that available resources are used in the most effective and efficient way possible. Economics allows more informed decision making about a variety of issues: choosing between alternative treatments; setting priorities between patients; choosing between alternative new technologies and organising the provision of health care.

This course provides an introduction to the application of economics to health care. It does not assume any prior knowledge of economics.

This course will engage students as active citizens through the viewing and discussion of films engaging contemporary moral issues. Feature length films, most often documentaries, will be screened during the class session and will be followed by student-led classroom debates about the issues raised. Each session will end with a lecture on the topic raised by the film. Assessment will be by way of short student papers explaining how the debates have led students to change their views on the discussed topics. Possible topics may include: environmentalism, energy policy, human relations with animals and food, global geopolitics and more. Download course guide.

Medicine is a global profession framed by forces going beyond national boundaries, such as food insecurity, human migration, climate change and conflict. It follows that medical education needs to keep pace with these changes and to ensure the next generation of doctors are aware of global issues, regardless of whether they choose to work in the UK or overseas. This awareness improves their critical thinking, enables them to empathise more with patients from diverse backgrounds, and strengthens their ability to understand the challenges faced by different types of health systems – and not just the NHS. Global health covers issues of health and healthcare across the world, and not just in developing countries.

This practical anatomy option provides students with an opportunity to carry out a full body dissection in a small group setting. This will be followed by an independent elective dissection of an anatomical region of clinial and historical interest.

This option is centred around self-directed dissection based activities and library/museum work. The course will be based in Anatomy at the Suttie Centre. It will largely involve self-directed dissected with weekly interactive tutorials, and library study.

In addition, the historical and cultural place of Anatomy in society and medicine is explored through a short series of lectures/tutorials, discussing topics relating to Anatomy such as history, art, archaeology, ethics, and museums.

Doctors in training must engage with safety and quality. Human Factors is a person-centred safety science exploring how individuals interact with work systems. It is recognised by the GMC (and other regulators) as offering a practical framework for developing safety competencies. This course offers an introduction to systems-thinking as well as a ‘Human Factors toolkit.’ UK workforce planning includes roles with a specific safety focus. This course would suit anyone with an interest in this as a possible career option, or those with a general interest in safety and quality.

Health Studies in Education offers an opportunity for medical students to experience a 2 week placement in a secondary school, designing learning materials and taking classes in a range of subjects from a medical perspective. The students enrich the curriculum by making connections between it and medicine. Joining in the general life of the school wherever possible is encouraged. Students also have opportunities to mentor senior pupils who are interested in applying for medical school and on general aspects of student life.

The supportive 2-week Induction programme prior to the school placement includes interactive sessions on making best use of learning theories and planning learning for others. Presentation skills are important and support is provided for further development of these skills. Reflective practice and reflective writing have been an important feature of education for a long time and students have the opportunity to access support to further develop their understanding of professional reflection. Guest lecturers may contribute sessions on some aspects of Health Education. Students also make a two-day preparatory visit to their placement school on the Wednesday and Thursday of the first week to meet the staff, discuss their timetable and decide on what they will prepare before returning to the school.

This is an introductory course in the modern Scottish Gaelic language for students who have a standard grade qualification in Gaelic.

There are five classes per week: three language classes, one oral/aural class and one reading class. The language classes follow a custom-written textbook ‘Progressive Gaelic 1’. Sound files accompanying the textbook are made available through the virtual learning environment, MyAberdeen. In the oral/aural class, students have an opportunity to practise speaking, develop their vocabulary further, and listen to a native speaker. This class follows another custom-written workbook, which is given to students free of charge, and a programme of language lab work.

The course ME33IF joins the course FR1023: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 1A: BEGINNERS/NEAR BEGINNERS (STANDARD GRADE/GCSE OR BELOW) in week 7.

This introductory language course suitable for students with some or very little knowledge of French. All students must sit a diagnostic test on MyCurriculum before enrolling for this course.

Students with Higher or A Level or native speakers are not eligible to take this course

This course concentrates on the acquisition of basic grammar and vocabulary, and on the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills

The course ME33IG joins the course GM1054 German for Beginners 1 in week 7, when the medical students will be welcomed and integrated in the learning and study community of German as a foreign language.

Since the beginners will have worked through 5 chapters of the course book in the first 6 weeks, it is important that the medical students, who join in later, already have knowledge of basic vocabulary and grammar to build oME33GA Advanced German Language for Medical Students

According to the 2011 census, there are 1.5million speakers of Scots in Scotland. This represents a significant portion of the Scottish population.  This course will equip students with the basics of the Scots language. Emphasis will be placed predominantly on conversational usage. Alongside learning about the linguistic features of Scots, the course will also focus on valuing and validating the experiences of Scots language speakers while exploring cultural and social science perspectives.

Medical images and illustrations are important in medical research, clinical practice, and public communication. This course employs the tools and insights of the humanities (e.g. history and philosophy of science, visual culture) to explore questions such as: What makes medical images so important? What roles do they play? How do images inform and provide evidence? How do images depict what they are about? How are images produced and why does it matter? Do image-makers follow pictorial traditions? How do medical images travel between research communities and the public?

This course is an introduction to the concept and practice of mindfulness for medical students, involving the critical analysis of the subject and the underpinning neuroscience of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is included in the NICE guidelines as an NHS treatment for mild to moderate recurring depression. Furthermore, there is a large body of research indicating the physiological, psychological and neurological benefits of practice mindfulness. The study and practice of mindfulness is, therefore, of relevance to medical students hence why this course is offered as a Medical Humanities option. The course involves training in mindfulness practices

This course aims to familiarize students with the basics of spoken and written forms of Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis will be placed first on speaking and listening, particularly pronunciation and tones. The written form will be presented first through the medium of pinyin and gradually students will be introduced to a small number of the highest frequency characters. The emphasis will be on dialogue and role play. It covers a good deal of ground in the four class hours a week and requires considerable effort and self-study to consolidate new vocabulary, grammar and Chinese characters.

Behaviour is an important predictor and determinant of health. In this course you will learn about the factors that influence and determine human behaviour and behaviour change. You will learn how to help support your patients to engage in health promoting behaviours, such attending for screening and adhering to medication. Course activities will enable you to experience the evidence you encounter on the course so you can better understand your own and your patients’ health behaviours.

This course will explore practices and research from the fields of music, therapy, public health and medicine, to rigorously explore the relationship between music, health and wellbeing. 

As well as engaging in the academic debate around music, health, and wellbeing the course will develop a working knowledge and understanding of the musical practices available to medical and music practitioners, and to their potential uses in a breadth of health care settings.

Between 1200 and 1500 Christendom was afflicted by war, plague and climatic regression. The social fabric was questioned by popular revolt, while both the political and religious unity of earlier centuries began to crumble. This course offers a thematic survey of the later medieval west, as Europe emerged from Christendom. 

Lectures and tutorials focus on religion, society, culture and the economy and environment. Throughout attention is devoted to the general European context, demonstrating whenever appropriate how particular themes relate to Scotland. 

The aim of this course will be to address the concepts that underpin sustainability in healthcare. It will encourage the student to consider the complex relationship between health and the environment and examine the difficulties of providing modern healthcare while conserving the natural world.

This course aims to extend medical students' knowledge by exploring some of the sociological aspects of health and illness. As an overarching aim, the course seeks to convey an understanding of the social dimensions of health-related micro-level and experiential issues and their relationship to wider, macro-level cultural and structural forces, addressing various ways in which 'personal troubles' can be connected to 'public issues', as a core endeavour of sociological thought and research. The influence of wider political and economic forces on medical treatment, professional organisation and practice is a central focus of the course.

Science is constantly in the news, but how much do you know about how research gets to be news? How do you know you can trust what you read? If you have a great idea, do you know how to protect it and start a company? Science and Society will explain how the scientific media work and how to critically assess what you read. You will learn about scientific ethics by studying high profile cases of fraud. You will learn about intellectual property, how to protect it and how to use it from real-life entrepreneurs and those who support them.

This course is an intensive language course and you will learn Swedish by actually using it. Swedish is one of the Scandinavian languages. The course aims to introduce the fundamentals of the grammar and a basic working vocabulary of Swedish, and to give extensive practice in reading, writing, listening and speaking, so that by the end of the course you will be able to communicate at European language level A1. You will learn to interact in both dialogues and written language, and will also get some cultural insight.

By learning Swedish you acquire a new language, but maybe also a new way of thinking, and an interesting twist to your CV.

‘Art’ is a controversial category. In museums, you might see urinals and cardboard boxes exhibited – but what earns them this accolade? Is it about skill? Creativity? Beauty? Who decides what counts as ‘good’ art? And why are museums full of stuff made by white men? This course discusses these and related questions. It will introduce you to a wide range of historical definitions of art, and discuss key works, from antiquity to Instagram - many of which challenged the boundaries of ‘art’.

This one week taught course sets the scene for the clinical learning that students will undertake, on a rotational basis during the seven, six week long clinical blocks ahead.  It provides both whole group teaching and smaller group discussion of how to make the most of the learning opportunities in clinical areas, with a focus on learning from and through work, both signposted activities and through experiential learning.  It also discusses expectations of professional behaviour in senior clinical practice.

The Year 4 curriculum builds on the considerable breadth and depth of specialty knowledge of Years 1-3 systems-based teaching and provides the clinically based core learning required in Outcomes for Graduates (2018) for graduating doctors. Building on prior learning, Year 4 students will be able to apply their knowledge of basic physiology, anatomy, pharmacology and pathology to patients with a wide range of problems. The Year 4 curriculum is designed to ensure that students achieve the standards set by the GMC across a broad range of clinical settings and conditions. These experiences will enable students to increasingly contribute to the care of patients under supervision.

The Year 4 curriculum builds on the considerable breadth and depth of specialty knowledge of Years 1-3 systems-based teaching and provides the clinically based core learning required in Outcomes for Graduates (2018) for graduating doctors. Building on prior learning, Year 4 students will be able to apply their knowledge of basic physiology, anatomy, pharmacology and pathology to patients with a wide range of problems. The Year 4 curriculum is designed to ensure that students achieve the standards set by the GMC across a broad range of clinical settings and conditions. These experiences will enable students to increasingly contribute to the care of patients under supervision.

This one week taught course (the second of the Professional Practice Blocks) provides both whole group teaching and smaller group discussion regarding professional behaviour in senior clinical practice and revisiting the horizontal themes that were launched in the first the Professional Practice Block at the start of Year 4.