You've chosen medicine because you're interested in working closely with people and learning the art of clinical practice. This means that clinical experience will be central to your development as a doctor.
At HYMS, your clinical placements will reflect the reality of modern healthcare delivery. Half of your placements will take place in primary care and community settings, helping you to develop a clear understanding of healthcare and to meet patients in different contexts.
We want to encourage you to become an active, self-directed learner. Problem-based learning is central to this.
At HYMS, PBL is led by practising clinicians who will support you as you learn in your first two years. PBL will help you to develop confidence and essential teamworking skills, as well as allowing you to explore your knowledge and develop real understanding of medicine.
Our curriculum is tightly integrated and designed to be relevant to 21st-century medicine. Focused on patients from the outset, you'll explore topics through a range of themes and disciplines, each presented in a clinically relevant context so you can understand the effects on individuals and their lives.
You'll learn to apply your increasing theoretical knowledge to clinical problems and to consider the wider aspects of health in society, effective communication with colleagues and patients and the ability to manage healthcare resources.
The 'spiral' nature of our curriculum means that you'll study each topic in short bursts. You'll then keep returning to these same topics throughout your course, exploring, refreshing and deepening your understanding of each one as the course progresses.
This is a great strength of the HYMS curriculum. As you'll be in contact with patients from the first weeks of the course, we have designed a clinical skills curriculum to help you to develop the skills you will need to become an effective practitioner.
You'll work in small groups with your peers, guided by a clinical skills tutor to work through clinical scenarios, delivered by trained actors to help you to develop your communication skills in a supportive environment. Physical examination skills are developed in the same groups and all of your clinical skills are then practised on clinical placement with real patients.
Medicine is an unusual undergraduate programme because it provides the foundation for a specific professional career. We recognise the importance of developing the necessary professional skills for good practice and of understanding the complex ethical and moral issues which are woven throughout medical practice. These themes are represented throughout the course, making sure you have the opportunity to explore them, understand their importance and integrate them into your own professional practice.