| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2023-09-26 | 2023-06-01 |
| 2024-01-23 | 2023-10-16 |
Program Overview
Course overview
Medicine at Keele adopts a modern, spiral, highly integrated curriculum that combines a range of learning strategies, including early clinical experience, integrated communication and clinical skills teaching, practical activities (including dissection), problem-based learning (PBL), lectures and seminars. Additionally, inter-professional learning with other health students including nursing, midwifery, paramedic science, physiotherapy and radiography, are fostered throughout the programme.
We are committed to listening, responding and supporting our students to become well-rounded, competent clinicians. Through forums such as our Medical Student Council, we recognise the value of our students' contribution to development and progression of our curriculum and the student experience.
Key course content
To ensure you graduate as a confident and competent clinician, you will study a range of topics including:
Course structure
Our spiral curriculum means you will re-visit core topics, building on your knowledge as you progress through the degree.
In Year 1, you will cover a range of units including: health and disease, the body's defence, emergencies, lifecourse, brain and mind, pregnancy, and lifestyle.
Year 2 sees you re-visit many aspects of biomedical, behavioural and social science, with an increasing emphasis on complexity and pathology. You will learn through integrated units such as: mechanisms of disease, inputs and outputs, movement and trauma, circulation, breath of life and sensorimotor systems.
Years 3 and 4 enable you to build on the foundations of clinical knowledge and skills through immersion in clinical placements, while continuing to develop and apply biomedical, behavioural and social science knowledge. Within year 3 you will cover topics such as: medicine, surgery, elderly care, mental health and paediatrics, and complete a general practice clinical placement. You will revisit many of these topics in Year 4 but will also cover women's health, neurology and musculoskeletal systems.
The final year of the MBChB prepares you for professional practice as a Foundation Year 1 doctor. You will undertake extensive student assistantships including: out of hours evening and weekend working, general practice, acute and critical care (including emergency medicine, intensive care and anaesthesia), medicine and surgery.
Scholarship and student-selected components
Scholarship activities and student selected components (SSCs) complement our MBChB course. These offer you opportunities to learn about how medical knowledge develops through research, and to focus on particular areas of interest in medical science, clinical medicine or public health in greater depth. You will select a component in each year of study which has clear objectives and will be assessed accordingly. For example in Year 1, you will produce a library-based mini-review of an academic topic under the supervision of a member of the teaching and/or research staff.
Clinical placements
You will have extensive experience of clinical placements in both primary and secondary care settings and in the non-NHS community sector ("third sector"). Clinical placements will take place across Staffordshire, Shropshire and other adjoining counties. We are committed to providing you with opportunities to build your awareness of the health and wellbeing of a variety of demographics to strengthen your appreciation of the wider determinants of health, such as socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions.
Beginning in Year 1, you will be encouraged to think of community and social dimensions of illness and health throughout your academic studies and placements.
You will have placements with community services and general practices in Years 1 and 2, and over 20% of teaching in Years 3, 4 and 5 takes place in general practice. Examples of other community services we use are schools, workplaces, residential homes and drop-in centres, to name but a few: all places that contribute to the health and care of people.
Intercalation
Further opportunities for exploration of special interests are available through intercalation. Options for intercalation to pursue an additional qualification include studying at bachelor’s level after the second year or master’s level after the fourth year.
Intercalation is a year out of your undergraduate medical studies to study a subject area in greater depth before returning to complete the medical course. An intercalated degree provides you with an opportunity to gain an additional qualification in a medicine-related subject that interests you, acquire a better understanding of basic biomedical sciences, medical humanities or research methodologies, publish scientific papers and present at conferences.
Program Outline
Modules
Modules for Medicine
The module details given below are indicative, they are intended to provide you with an idea of the range of subjects that are taught to our current students. The modules that will be available for you to study in future years are prone to change as we regularly review our teaching to ensure that it is up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods, as well as student voice. The information presented is therefore not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules available in any given year.
Year 1
|
Compulsory modules |
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Optional modules |
Credits |
|
Year 1 (Level 4) |
Med- 10008 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Year 2
|
Compulsory modules |
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Optional modules |
Credits |
|
Year 2 (Level 5) |
Med- 20008 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Year 3
|
Compulsory modules |
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Optional modules |
Credits |
|
Year 3 (Level 6) |
Med- 30001 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Year 4
|
Compulsory modules |
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Optional modules |
Credits |
|
Year 4 (Level 6) |
Med- 30002 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Year 5
|
Compulsory modules |
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Optional modules |
Credits |
|
Year 5 (Level 6) |
Med- 30003 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Your future career
95% of our students are in employment or further study within 15 months of finishing their studies (HESA Graduate Outcomes, 2019/20)
Graduates of our undergraduate medical degree have gone on to pursue careers spanning a diverse range of specialities, from forensic pathologist to psychiatrist, GP to cardiothoracic surgeon. Our integrated curriculum and emphasis on the application of your learning means you are well-equipped to explore a career within a speciality aligned to your aspirations.
The General Medical Council (GMC) approves your university’s degree as a primary medical qualification (PMQ). This is important because, provided there are no concerns about your fitness to practise, a PMQ entitles you to provisional registration with the GMC for a licence to practise medicine in the UK. For more details visit the UK Foundation Programme website.
In addition to your medical degree, in order to gain entry to the Foundation Training Programme you will be required to pass national exams including the Situational Judgement Test and the Medical Licensing Assessment .
Provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts, obtained through the national application process during the final year of the course.
Successful completion of the programme is normally achieved within 12 months and awards a Certificate of Experience. You can then apply for full registration with the General Medical Council. You need this and a licence to practise unsupervised medical practice in the UK for both NHS and private practice. Medical students at UK medical schools who are from outside the UK and Ireland and do not have right of residence must check how the latest information on visa requirements affects their postgraduate training period.
Enhance your employability
Keele’s Careers and Employability team (Shortlisted for Best University Careers Employment Service - National Undergraduate Employability Awards, 2021), offers a variety of personal and career development opportunities to enhance your employability.
Within the MBChB programme you will have opportunities to learn about the variety of medical speciality pathways and how to enhance your CV for your preferred speciality, as well as to experience particular specialities within SSCs. You will receive support with UK Foundation Programme applications and will build up a portfolio throughout the course to support subsequent medical job applications.
Find out more about our careers and employability services, including career planning, alumni mentoring, jobs, internships, starting your own business and much more.
Teaching, learning and assessment
We aim to make learning enjoyable through small class sizes, small group learning and early clinical experience, and will support you to develop into highly competent and self-aware medical professionals.
In your programme you will sometimes be expected to role play and engage in simulated clinical scenarios with other students, such as the practice and observation of practical skills in physical contact with other students. For some specific practices, this may necessitate modification of dress - e.g., to shorts and t-shirt. These activities will be conducted in a professional, safe, respectful and culturally sensitive way, under the supervision of academic staff, according to a defined protocol.
We offer students varied learning opportunities including:
Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) is one major component of the Keele MBChB curriculum in Years 1 and 2. You will work in small groups to study written descriptions of clinical situations. Using a specific set of study skills, you will use scenarios to guide you towards relevant theoretical and practical learning. Normally, each scenario is the focus for learning for a week, with two tutorials devoted to it.
From Year 3 onwards PBL develops into case-based and case-illustrated learning, where the written scenarios are augmented using discussions of patients encountered by students in their clinical placements.
The PBL programme is supported by a variety of methods which include: plenary lectures, seminars, laboratory practical classes, and a wide variety of placement experiences in primary and secondary care. Placements begin in Year 1 and you will learn the skills needed to get the best out of placement opportunities prior to their occurrence. The emphasis throughout the course is firmly on student-led and self-directed learning. You are expected to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding in interactive group sessions.
Assessment
We utilise a range of assessment modes appropriate to assess each of the intended learning objectives of the programme. In every year all domains will be summatively assessed using appropriate assessment methods.
Assessment methods include:
Written knowledge examinations
- Knowledge is examined in a range of formats designed to test students' ability to apply relevant scientific and medical knowledge to professional practice. Methods include single best answer (SBA) and short answer question (SAQ) exams.Practical examinations
- These examinations are designed to enable you to demonstrate safe and effective clinical practice. These include objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and a variety of workplace-based assessments (WBAs).In-course assignments
- These assignments test your ability to apply a range of professional attributes, including your reflective practice and presentation skills. Methods include written reviews and case reports, and poster presentations.