In your first two years, you'll be based at either the University of Hull or the University of York.
Phase I is based on problem-based learning (PBL) sessions. These are stimulating, educational, and popular with students. You'll be working in groups of eight or nine, alongside an experienced clinical tutor. The PBL sessions are supported by plenaries (lectures), resource sessions and workshops.
You'll also have clinical skills sessions each week. These are an opportunity to acquire clinical skills in a university setting. Around half the sessions focus on communication skills, and involve working with a clinician tutor and a simulated patient (actor). You'll receive detailed feedback from your tutor, from the simulated patients and from your fellow students. You will also acquire physical examination skills by performing peer physical examination -- that is, by examining one another.
In your first year, you'll spend half a day each week on clinical placement, alternating between general practice and hospital sites. In your second year, you'll spend a full day on placement each week.
Phase II is the moment you've been waiting for: full exposure to clinical medicine! Our five locality sites in Hull, York, Grimbsy, Scarborough and Scunthorpe allow you to experience a wide range of disease and illness in a diverse social setting. You'll work each week both in general practice, where new and existing patients first make contact, and on the hospital wards.
In both settings, you'll practice your examination, history-taking and problem-solving skills on real patients. You'll also learn essential clinical skills such as taking blood, inserting intravenous cannulas and bladder catherisation taught by dedicated specialist skills tutors across the sites.
Meanwhile, our problem-based approach continues, with a keynote patient presentation of the week linking pathophysiology, clinical features and differential diagnosis. Your knowledge acquisition is supported by more formal teaching sessions in pharmacology, therapeutics, evidence-based medicine, illness, and communication masterclasses. You'll have weekly telephone conference sessions between student groups to consolidate your collective experience and knowledge.
This phase starts with something you'll have been planning for some time: your elective period!
When you return from your elective and start your final year at HYMS, you'll be the junior member (assistant intern) of a medical team. In this role, you'll rotate through general medicine, general surgery and general practice. You'll become more experienced in the skills required of a junior doctor, and you'll gain valuable experience of working closely with a multidisciplinary team. Your working hours will be similar to those of a junior doctor, including on-call and shift arrangements.
On surgical attachments, you should have opportunities to take part in pre-operative and post-operative care, and you'll be allocated patients for whom you are responsible, following these patients to theatre. In general practice, you'll see patients in surgery, taking responsibility for a range of common conditions under the supervision of the GP. You'll gain experience of prescribing, how to diagnose and manage patients' conditions in a variety of settings, and how to perform the kinds of routine medical procedures that are part of a junior doctor's role.
After you've taken your final exams, you'll begin the final phase of your undergraduate training. This consists of shadowing the junior doctor whom you'll be replacing in August, familiarising yourself with all aspects of their role.