Year 3 Curriculum Overview

What students can expect from Year 3 of our MBChB Programme, at a glance.

Year 3 is a transition year during which students spend the majority of their time on clinical placement and gaining experience from clinicians and patients in hospitals, GP surgeries and community settings. Each placement lasts for four weeks.

These placements are:

  • Medicine A: Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Dermatology
  • Medicine B: Gastroenterology, Diabetes and Infectious Diseases
  • Surgery A: Colorectal, Urology, Breast, Upper GI and Liver
  • Surgery B: Trauma & Orthopaedics and Vascular
  • General Practice
  • Paediatrics
  • Obstetrics

Alongside clinical placements, the University weeks provide an opportunity to learn in more detail about these themed topics.

Case Based Learning (CBL) Tutorials

CBL tutorials are facilitated by specialists and take place during the clinical placements. In advance of each CBL, students should take the opportunity to read around the tutorial topic, to promote high-level learning and discussion of the clinical cases.

Safe Prescribing Sessions

These sessions are facilitated by educational pharmacists and take place during the clinical placements. The aim of the sessions is to promote a greater depth of knowledge and confidence in prescribing and to help prepare students for the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA).

Clinical Skills

In Year 3, students will receive four University-based Clinical Skills sessions. These will be timetabled in academic weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4. The skills covered in these sessions include speculum and obstetrics examination, ABGs, breast examination and catheterisation. There will then be the opportunity for students to gain experience of these skills on placement.

Clinical Skills sessions will also take place on the clinical placements and will include teaching on a variety of skills including adult & paediatric BLS, a recap of male genital/rectal examination, sterile gloving/ANTT, partogram and collection of urine sample in paediatrics. 

Community Clinical Teaching (CCT)

These are small group teaching sessions facilitated by an experienced GP/Community Clinical Tutor (CCT). The purpose of these sessions is to provide teaching on primary care-based medicine. CCT sessions take place each academic week on either a Tuesday or a Thursday and on each Thursday of the GP placement.

Back to: School of Medicine