GAMSAT UK

Swansea University
 

Medicine – Graduate Entry Medicine Programme

MB BCh (Wales)

Course outline
The Graduate Entry Programme in Medicine at Swansea was launched in 2004 in partnership with Cardiff University and has rapidly established itself as an outstanding programme of learning. The programme is now a fully independent four-year course based entirely in Swansea and west Wales that enables graduates of any discipline to learn the scientific and clinical principles of medicine, using state-of-the-art equipment and cutting-edge teaching methods. It combines an innovative case-based curriculum with the input from enthusiastic and committed researchers and clinicians.
Applications must be submitted to UCAS by 15th October 2010.

Scheme of study
The course is fully integrated with all the necessary teaching and learning designed to lead the student on a journey; from exploring simple clinical problems as a novice, through repeated cycles of learning and practice, to the development of a knowledgeable, skilled and professional doctor. The four-year course will be based in Swansea
University, and surrounding healthcare providers. Students will rotate through a series of learning weeks and clinical attachments. Exposure to real and simulated patients will start during the first week and continue through regular, half-day, full-day and fiveweek clinical attachments.

How will I study?
The course is fully integrated, with each week based on a clinical problem. After an introductory session, this problem will be explored using group tutorials, lectures and seminars. From the first week, this theoretical framework will be used to perform clinical skills in the laboratory using actors and simulations. In the later years an increasing amount of time will be spent on the wards. Students will be able to choose from a long list of half-day clinical attachments throughout the course.
These learning weeks will be interspersed with a variety of other activities:

* Attachment to a Primary Care centre to see patients and gain experience of a variety of medical problems

* 5-week clinical attachments where students will be embedded in a healthcare team to work alongside other staff and gain experience of how health care is really delivered

* An elective period in the third year will allow students to choose to visit almost any part of the world and a final ‘Shadowing’ period will allow the final honing of skills prior to starting work as a qualified doctor

* Each year will include a long term project to work with other professions and explore the issues of interprofessional learning

Each student will be allocated a personal tutor on arrival to provide support and advice on both academic and personal matters.  The academic staff delivering this programme are drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including experienced clinicians, (general practitioners, hospital specialists and public health practitioners), biomedical scientists and social scientists. They will guide you through this interdisciplinary and integrated programme, in order to provide you with the best possible learning experience.  Many of the patients that students will meet, especially during clinical attachments in west Wales, will have Welsh as their first language. For this reason, there is an emphasis on assisting non-Welsh speaking students to at least have some familiarity with the language and its origins. Their attention is drawn to the Welsh Assembly Government’s package “Iechyd Da!” – an introduction to language awareness in healthcare. Students who are Welshspeaking are provided with opportunities to enhance their technical vocabulary in the context of the clinical consultation. The School has already been awarded a Welsh Assembly Government prize for the first in a series of recordings of teaching consultations involving Welsh speaking students, consultants and patients.

Funding
As a graduate-entry medical student from England or Wales, you are eligible to receive a student loan in year one, and from year two onwards you may apply to the NHS Student Grants Unit for a means-tested bursary to support you in your studies. Throughout the programme, you may apply to the University for extra funding in times of hardship.

Career prospects
Upon graduation you will be offered a rotational year on the Foundation Year Programme in Wales. After this, you will be able to specialise in and practise whatever area of medicine or surgery that excites you, with the full range of foundation knowledge and skills required to be amongst the top in your field.

How do I apply?
To be eligible to apply to the programme, you must be classed as a ‘home’ student (i.e., UK and EU residents). You must apply through UCAS by 15th October 2010 and sit the GAMSAT test.  You must also have at least an upper second class degree (or equivalent) in any subject (or a predicted upper second class degree or above if you are about
to graduate), and Maths and English Language at GCSE level (or equivalent). It is desirable (but not essential) that you have some GCSE or post- GCSE level (or equivalent) experience in Biology or Chemistry.

Further information is available from our website at: www.swansea.ac.uk/medicine

Entry Requirements: 

Applicants should already hold or be expected to graduate with an upper second or first class honours degree in any subject. Additionally, applicants must have obtained GCSE English and Mathematics at grade C or above (or equivalent), and some GCSE or post-GCSE experience in either Biology or Chemistry is desirable, but not essential.

Applicants should show a clear commitment to enter medicine, based on an understanding of its demands as well as its rewards. Applicants are required to sit the GAMSAT (Graduate Medical Schools Admissions Test). Selection is based on an assessment of the informtion provided on your UCAS application form (i.e., academic achievements, personal statement and academic referee’s report), an interview, as well as your GAMSAT result.

MBBCh(Wales)
A101Medicine
4 year scheme

Enquiries

Admissions Tutors:  Dr Adrian Evans/Dr Sarah Rees

Tel: +44 (0)1792 602618

Email:  medicine@swansea.ac.uk