Post by veilynn on Sept 24, 2015 23:33:48 GMT
Leicester Medical School has recently announced a new curriculum which will be implemented starting October 2016. With the new curriculum, 2 years of the course will be 'Pre-Clinicals' while the remaining 3 years will be 'Clinical'. As the new curriculum was newly announced and has yet to be implemented, only limited information can be provided.
NOTE :
The following is written based on the information given on Leicester Medical School's official website. Included also are my experience. I entered Leicester Medical School in September 2013 and am currently a 3rd year. Therefore, my experience is based on the curriculum that was implemented in that year, which is Leicester's old curriculum. My experience is only to share what it is like being a student in Leicester and does not reflect the course structure that you will get if you enter Leicester Medical School in the coming years.
'Pre-Clinical' Years (Year 1 and 2)
Aimed at equipping you with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to communicate with patients, examine them, and interpret your observations.
Alongside the core modules, you will take two 'Student Selected Components' (SSCs) on topics which match your interests and aspirations. SSCs allow you to choose a topic you are interested in and to study it in more detail that what the core modules may offer. They can be differentiated into a science or an art module. For example, some of the SSCs available for my year were Vascular Biology, Biology of Cancer, Mood Disorders, Art in Medicine, Clinically Applied Anatomy, Spanish, Ethics etc. During my time, we get to do 2 SSCs throughout our pre-clinical years and at least one of them has to be a science module.
In terms of clinical exposure, I met my first real patient within my first term. Leicester Medical School has an extra module called "Living with Long Term Conditions" where each student is assigned a patient for about 1.5 years. The patient assigned will have a chronic medical condition such as diabetes, respiratory problems etc. Our task is to visit them and get to learn about how the condition has affected their lives and also to gain input on the healthcare system from a patient's point of view. At the end of the module, we are to write a dissertation of 10,000 words about our experience.
Apart from that, we also have sessions teaching us on communication and different examinations. With that, we moved on to enter hospitals and GPs once a week in our second year.
For exams, we have 2 exams in a year called End-of-Semester Assessment (ESA) which occurs after every semester eg. in January and in June. We have 2 papers for each ESA, one subjective and one objective. ESAs will test all information taught since first year and NOT for the specific semester only. The typical passing mark is about 60%. We also have OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) which test our clinical skills in the 1st and 3rd year (before progressing to clinical years). Note : This is in the old curriculum where pre-clinical years consisted of 2.5 years. Exam format will most slightly change with the new curriculum.
Clinical Years (Year 3-5)
During clinical years, we will be assigned to an area for either hospital or GP placements which can either be within Leicester (in-block) or out of Leicester (out-block). Out-blocks are close to Leicester and includes places such as Kettering and Northampton etc. If not mistaken, one block typically lasts for 5 weeks and accommodation is provided. Before being assigned a place, you will decide your 'friendship group' which will consist between 2-3 people. Your group will be assigned to the same area at the same time (eg. all in Kettering for 1st block, all in Leicester for 2nd block etc.). At the end of the block, you will have a test. However, the big exams are at the end of the year. So although different groups will have different rotations during a single time, they will have learnt the same content by the end of the year, thus sit for the same exam.
Since I have yet to enter clinical years, I am unable to provide more info for now. I will update this post if I am able to get input from others.
Teaching Style
Leicester Medical School includes clinical exposure in the pre-clinical years, hence it is called an integrated school. Teaching is also done via a system-based format. For example, we learn modules based on systems, eg. cardiovascular system, respiratory system. Therefore, in that module, we learn everything regarding that specific system ranging from anatomy, physiology, pathology etc.
On a typical scheduled teaching day, we have lectures first and then move on to group work to do questions based on the content that was taught. It is like a tutorial which is facilitated by Clinical Teaching Fellows (doctors). Currently, Leicester is NOT considered a problem-based learning (PBL) school. A group typically consists of between 7-9 people and you would stay in the same group throughout your pre-clinical years!
Leicester Medical School is also one of the few schools in UK which teaches anatomy with dissection! All I can say is that it is different learning anatomy from a full cadaver when compared to a prosection (readily dissected parts) because you get to see things as it is and slowly find and identify different structures!
NOTE :
The following is written based on the information given on Leicester Medical School's official website. Included also are my experience. I entered Leicester Medical School in September 2013 and am currently a 3rd year. Therefore, my experience is based on the curriculum that was implemented in that year, which is Leicester's old curriculum. My experience is only to share what it is like being a student in Leicester and does not reflect the course structure that you will get if you enter Leicester Medical School in the coming years.
'Pre-Clinical' Years (Year 1 and 2)
Aimed at equipping you with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to communicate with patients, examine them, and interpret your observations.
Alongside the core modules, you will take two 'Student Selected Components' (SSCs) on topics which match your interests and aspirations. SSCs allow you to choose a topic you are interested in and to study it in more detail that what the core modules may offer. They can be differentiated into a science or an art module. For example, some of the SSCs available for my year were Vascular Biology, Biology of Cancer, Mood Disorders, Art in Medicine, Clinically Applied Anatomy, Spanish, Ethics etc. During my time, we get to do 2 SSCs throughout our pre-clinical years and at least one of them has to be a science module.
In terms of clinical exposure, I met my first real patient within my first term. Leicester Medical School has an extra module called "Living with Long Term Conditions" where each student is assigned a patient for about 1.5 years. The patient assigned will have a chronic medical condition such as diabetes, respiratory problems etc. Our task is to visit them and get to learn about how the condition has affected their lives and also to gain input on the healthcare system from a patient's point of view. At the end of the module, we are to write a dissertation of 10,000 words about our experience.
Apart from that, we also have sessions teaching us on communication and different examinations. With that, we moved on to enter hospitals and GPs once a week in our second year.
For exams, we have 2 exams in a year called End-of-Semester Assessment (ESA) which occurs after every semester eg. in January and in June. We have 2 papers for each ESA, one subjective and one objective. ESAs will test all information taught since first year and NOT for the specific semester only. The typical passing mark is about 60%. We also have OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) which test our clinical skills in the 1st and 3rd year (before progressing to clinical years). Note : This is in the old curriculum where pre-clinical years consisted of 2.5 years. Exam format will most slightly change with the new curriculum.
Clinical Years (Year 3-5)
During clinical years, we will be assigned to an area for either hospital or GP placements which can either be within Leicester (in-block) or out of Leicester (out-block). Out-blocks are close to Leicester and includes places such as Kettering and Northampton etc. If not mistaken, one block typically lasts for 5 weeks and accommodation is provided. Before being assigned a place, you will decide your 'friendship group' which will consist between 2-3 people. Your group will be assigned to the same area at the same time (eg. all in Kettering for 1st block, all in Leicester for 2nd block etc.). At the end of the block, you will have a test. However, the big exams are at the end of the year. So although different groups will have different rotations during a single time, they will have learnt the same content by the end of the year, thus sit for the same exam.
Since I have yet to enter clinical years, I am unable to provide more info for now. I will update this post if I am able to get input from others.
Teaching Style
Leicester Medical School includes clinical exposure in the pre-clinical years, hence it is called an integrated school. Teaching is also done via a system-based format. For example, we learn modules based on systems, eg. cardiovascular system, respiratory system. Therefore, in that module, we learn everything regarding that specific system ranging from anatomy, physiology, pathology etc.
On a typical scheduled teaching day, we have lectures first and then move on to group work to do questions based on the content that was taught. It is like a tutorial which is facilitated by Clinical Teaching Fellows (doctors). Currently, Leicester is NOT considered a problem-based learning (PBL) school. A group typically consists of between 7-9 people and you would stay in the same group throughout your pre-clinical years!
Leicester Medical School is also one of the few schools in UK which teaches anatomy with dissection! All I can say is that it is different learning anatomy from a full cadaver when compared to a prosection (readily dissected parts) because you get to see things as it is and slowly find and identify different structures!