Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery BM BS

Your modules for years 1 and 2 cover the fundamentals of health and disease as well as developing clinical skills on placements in community and primary care settings. You will also have the opportunity to study optional topics in both years. The clinical placements, equating to one day a week (20%), will be spent in General practice and other community clinical and social care settings, linking your academic study with the core clinical skills you will need as a doctor.

You will study modules totalling 120 credits each year.

• Year 1
• Year 2

You will largely (80%) based around longer clinical placements in hospitals and general practices across Kent and Medway with 20% campus learning at the start of each year and Integrated Practice modules at the end. If you decide to take an intercalated year it will be between years 3 and 4.

Clinical placements will include general practice, community health and social care, public health, and with Third Sector organisations. Specialist disciplines will be introduced through hospital, general practice and community clinical placement settings. You will learn how patients present and are cared for by General Practitioners GPs) with extended roles, as well as by hospitalists working outside the hospital environment.

While on your placements, you will monitor and log your learning on an ePortfolio. You will learn more about the professional values and behaviours of doctors and will receive feedback from the team members you encounter, as well as through reflective case writing and patient feedback.

You will follow a series of patients on their journeys, seeing them when they are admitted to hospital or first visit a GP, following their progress through their care and back home again. You will visit your patient at home along with their GP and any relevant community services.

In this stage you can choose topics to study in greater depth through the Student Selected Components (SSCs) and Individual Research Project (IRP), usually based in a clinical or healthcare environment or either university. Options include the whole spectrum of biomedical, psychological and social healthcare as well as the humanities, physical and social sciences.

Modules

• Year 3
• Year 4

Year 5 will consolidate your learning and help you prepare for clinical practice and your final exams. Your placements will normally be planned around one geographical location and a co-located General practice placement. In line with the pattern of earlier years, the modular structure of Year 5 will consist of concurrent strands of Professional Knowledge, Professional Skills and Professional Values and Behaviours*.

To consolidate your clinical practice you will undertake a 24-week rotation consisting of six four-week clinical placements in the specialties of:

• Medicine
• Elderly Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Surgery
• Psychiatry
• General Practice

In addition, you will complete a Preparation for Practice module, attend seminars and prepare to sit two national assessments: the Situational Judgement Test and the Prescribing Safety Assessment.

By the time you finish this year, you will have achieved all the learning outcomes from the General Medical Councils' 'Outcomes for Graduates'.

*Potential changes to year 5

The General Medical Council (GMC) is currently planning to introduce a new Medical Licensing Assessment in all UK medical schools in 2022. This may result in significant changes to the structure of Year 5 of your course but we will keep you informed and carefully consider the impact on your studies as more details become available.

You will have the option to take a year out of your medical degree between years 3 and 4 to undertake an intercalated degree. This will allow you to study an area of interest in depth and gain an extra BSc, BA or a Masters (postgraduate) degree. If you decide to do a BSc or BA, you will normally join the 3rd year.

Undertaking an intercalated degree will lengthen your studies by a year but will provide you with extensive training in research methods, which you may be able to carry out research and publish the results. This extra degree and research training will add to your CV and make you stand out as you look to develop your career. We will discuss a range of options that you can choose from at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent.

Placements form an integral part of your learning and hands-on practical experience enables you to practise your newly acquired skills and knowledge. Your placements will enable you to work in general practice, community and mental health as individual specialities, as well as learning the foundations of medicine that are essential for any medical practitioner. By the time you graduate you will understand the variety and challenges of generalist medicine and have a holistic approach to patients as individuals rather than people with illnesses or diseases.

Our placements, provided by a range of partners across Kent and Medway, and offering direct experience in all the environments where healthcare is delivered will emphasise inter-professional learning (IPL) and person-centred care that is enhanced through direct experience in primary and acute healthcare. 25% of your time will be spent in the community rather than practice or hospital based.

Using feedback from your peers, as well as from your teachers, you will be able to analyse, assess your own performance, reshaping your practice to develop your competence and performance, and gain new perspectives and opinions. This reflective practice, using an ePortfolio and with access to role models across many specialisms, will form a key part of your personal and professional development.

Teaching includes lectures, laboratory classes, workshops and tutorials in the Medical School’s purpose-built facilities. For example, you will learn anatomy and physiology in a state-of-the-art anatomy suite, using full-body dissection and radiological imaging.

In addition, right from the start, you will learn in a range of integrated medical, surgical, primary care and community placements, gaining vital hands-on experience, developing clinical skills and learning to work in collaboration as part of a multi-professional team.

You will also undertake self-directed learning, normally split between university and healthcare settings. This will allow you to study topics of particular interest in greater depth and develop your academic and scholarly skills in disciplines allied to medicine and healthcare.

As a trainee doctor, you will be required to sit many exams and complete formal and informal assessments throughout the course. We use a combination of written assessments including essays, short answer questions and single best answers. We will also test your communication and clinical skills through practical assessment methods.

Your professional development will be captured through assessments within the ePortfolio, including feedback from colleagues and staff and reflective writing. Regular meetings with your tutors and supervisors will ensure that you are given support to keep on track with the course.

As a 'founding' graduate, you will be a doctor, equipped with the curiosity, academic, professional and clinical skills to influence and improve future healthcare in Kent and Medway, and beyond.

We very much hope you will choose to work in Kent and Medway or the South East of England. However, your qualification will allow you to apply for a Foundation Programme job anywhere in the UK, providing you with the required postgraduate experience to gain full registration with the General Medical Council.

Once fully registered you will have the education and experience to apply for any one of over 100 possible medical specialties. Qualified doctors also work in media, the arts, business, the Third Sector, government, research and technology. There are national programmes available for medical graduates to obtain specialist postgraduate training and experience in leadership, management, entrepreneurialism and research.

The annual tuition fees for UK students starting the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery undergraduate medical degree in 2020 have not yet been set by government. As a guide only the full-time tuition fee for new and returning UK undergraduate courses for 2019/20 is £9,250. Where permitted by law or government policy in the second or subsequent years of your course we reserve the right to increase tuition fees to the maximum permitted level.

The annual tuition fees for EU students starting the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery undergraduate medical degree in 2020 have not yet been set by government.

International students

Fees for international students to be confirmed. For continuing students fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.

Fees and the financial support available differs for international students. More information on funding your degree.