Undergraduate Medicine 2024-2025

This course delivers the anatomy content for Year 1 MBChB.

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.

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.

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.

ME33HA is a semester 1 30-credit Year3 MBChB course within the Medical Humanities SSC Block. In this course, students explore the historical evolution to the current day of anatomy/medicine and its intercalated connection with history, art, archaeology, and sociology. This course is centred around a self-directed clinically relevant historical project of students’ choice with an anatomical context. The course is based in the Anatomy Department. The methods of study largely involve self-directed research with weekly historical lectures delivered by experts from various fields, interactive tutorials, and library-based studies. Students will be assessed by historical research reports and group presentations.

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 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.

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.