Program Overview

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Doctor of Medicine (NSW)

Overview

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) is a four-year postgraduate degree accredited by the Australian Medical Council as meeting national standards of medical education, permitting graduates to receive provisional registration and become a junior doctor (also known as a doctor-in-training) and enter the medical workforce.

Program Structure

The program is divided into four years:

Year One

• Foundations of a Medical Vocation

Year Two

• Foundations of Clinical Practice

Year Three

• Apprenticeships in Clinical Practice

Year Four

• Preparation for Internship
• Applied Research Project

Entry Requirements

Admission to the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program is currently only available to Australian citizens, Australian permanent humanitarian visa holders, Australian permanent residents, and New Zealand citizens.

Domestic applicants are required to apply for admission via GEMSAS. Full admission requirements will be published in the GEMSAS Guide each year. Applicants should refer to this guide for further details before applying.

Applicants for the Doctor of Medicine will be selected for admission based on the following criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree (recognised by the Australian Qualifications Framework or the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition Guide) within the last 10 years, or be in the final year of a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline.
• GAMSAT
• Grade Point Average
• Casper score from the online Situational Judgement Test (see key dates). For more information on Casper and how to register for the tests, refer directly to
• Interview: The School of Medicine uses an online Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format.

Learning Outcomes

The program aims to develop and train caring and ethical doctors imbued with the values of compassion, respect, and service. The learning outcomes are divided into four categories:

Clinical Practice: the medical graduate as practitioner

• Listen and respond effectively and acceptably to patients, their family/carers, doctors, and other health professionals.
• Elicit, and record legibly, an accurate, organised and problem-focussed medical history, including family and social occupational and lifestyle features, from the patient, and other sources.
• Perform a full and accurate physical examination, including a mental state examination, or an organ/system/problem-focussed examination, as indicated, and record the findings legibly and unambiguously.
• Integrate and interpret findings from the history and examination, to arrive at an initial assessment including relevant differential diagnoses.
• Discriminate between possible differential diagnoses, justify the decisions taken, and evaluate their outcomes.
• Select and justify common investigations, with regard to the pathological basis of disease, utility, safety and cost effectiveness.
• Interpret the results and confirm or modify clinical decisions and actions appropriately.
• Select, justify, and perform safely a defined range of procedures.
• Make clinical judgments and decisions based on the available evidence.
• Alone or in conjunction with colleagues, according to level of training and experience, identify and justify relevant management options.
• Elicit patients’ questions and their views, concerns, and preferences, promote rapport, and ensure patients’ full understanding of their problem(s).
• Involve patients in decision-making and planning their treatment, including communicating risks and benefits of management options.
• Provide information to patients, and family/carers where relevant, (and confirm their understanding) to enable them to make a fully informed choice among various diagnostic, therapeutic and management options.
• Undertake clinical practice which integrates prevention, early detection, health maintenance and chronic disease management wherever relevant.
• Prescribe medications safely, effectively, and economically, based on objective evidence.
• Safely administer other therapeutic agents including fluid, electrolytes, blood products and selected inhalational agents.
• Recognise and assess deteriorating and critically unwell patients who require immediate care and initiate that care.
• Perform common emergency and life support procedures safely, including caring for the unconscious patient and performing CPR to an accepted standard.
• Care compassionately for patients at the end of life, avoiding unnecessary investigations or treatment, and ensuring physical comfort including pain relief, psychosocial support, and other components of palliative care.
• Undertake care which places the safety of patients and their needs at its centre.
• Practise safety skills including infection control, graded assertiveness, adverse event reporting and effective clinical handover.
• Retrieve, interpret and record information accurately and effectively in health data systems, and in conducting and reporting research (both paper and electronic).

Professionalism and Leadership: the medical graduate as a professional and a leader

• Provide care to all patients according to the guidelines: “Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia”.
• Behave in ways which demonstrate professional values including commitment to high quality clinical standards, compassion, empathy, and respect for all patients.
• Show integrity, honesty, leadership, initiative, professionalism and partnership to patients, the profession and society.
• Conduct clinical practice according to the principles of ethical practice.
• Communicate effectively about ethical issues with patients, family, and other healthcare professionals.
• Identify the risks posed to patients by the graduate’s own health.
• Mitigate the health risks of professional practice by taking effective action on factors that affect the graduate’s own personal health and wellbeing, including fatigue, stress management and infection control.
• Recognise their own health needs, and when to consult and follow the advice of a health professional.
• Practise in ways that demonstrate respect for the boundaries that define professional and therapeutic relationships.
• Identify and act appropriately on the options available when personal values or beliefs may influence patient care, including the obligation to refer to another practitioner.
• Respect the roles and expertise of other healthcare professionals.
• Learn and work effectively as a member of a multi-professional team.
• Self-evaluate their own professional practice through reflection and demonstrate lifelong learning behaviours.
• Demonstrate fundamental skills in educating colleagues.
• Recognise the limits of their own expertise and involve other professionals as needed to contribute to patient care.
• Fulfil the fundamental legal responsibilities of health professionals, especially those relating to ability to complete relevant certificates and documents, informed consent, duty of care to patients and colleagues, privacy, confidentiality, mandatory reporting, and notification.
• Act ethically and openly where there may be financial and / or other conflicts of interest.
• Understand the specific issues associated with ethical practice associated with research, in particular with vulnerable and/or specific groups or minorities.
• Conduct a research and/ or professionally focused project according to established ethical principles and justify those principles.

Science and Scholarship: the medical graduate as scientist and scholar

• Justify clinical decisions and actions by reference to established and evolving biological, clinical, epidemiological, social, and behavioural sciences.
• Justify decisions and actions in respect of individual patients, populations, and health systems by reference to core medical and scientific knowledge.
• Make diagnostic and management decisions based on accurate knowledge of the aetiology, pathology, clinical features, natural history, and prognosis of common and important presentations at all stages of life.
• Access, critically appraise, interpret, and apply evidence from the medical and scientific literature to clinical decisions and actions, and in the practice of research.
• Formulate relevant research questions and select appropriate study designs based on knowledge of common scientific methods.
• Undertake evidence-based practice and the generation of new scientific knowledge, striving to achieve a level of excellence.
• Summarise, document, report and reflect on the progress of a project in a team setting.
• Conduct a research and/ or professionally focused project under supervision with a degree of independence that shows self-reliance, the exercise of project planning skills, judgment, and flexibility.

Health and Society: the medical graduate as a health advocate

• Protect and improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and populations.
• Act on, and explain how issues such as health inequalities, diversity of cultural, spiritual and community values, and socio-economic and physical environment factors, influence the health, illness, disease, and success of treatment of populations.
• Communicate effectively in wider roles including leadership, advocacy, teaching, assessing, appraising and research
• Act in ways which acknowledge the factors that contribute to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including history, spirituality and relationship to land, diversity of cultures and communities, epidemiology, social and political determinants of health and health experiences.
• Communicate effectively and in a culturally competent fashion with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Explain and justify common population health screening and prevention approaches, and the use of technology for surveillance and monitoring the health status of populations.
• Advocate for healthy lifestyle choices, based on explanations of environmental and lifestyle health risks.
• Implement a systems approach to improving the quality and safety of health care.
• Critically appraise the extent to which individual, community and national health needs are met by the existing roles and relationships between health agencies and services.
• Evaluate the extent to which the principles of efficient, equitable and sustainable allocation of finite resources are applied in meeting individual, community, and national health needs.
• Understand the organisation of the national systems of health care, including the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector, in order to be an effective professional.
• Advocate for equitable health care for all Australians, and in particular for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Explain how global health issues and determinants of health and disease impact on health care delivery in other countries, and in particular in Australia and the broader Western Pacific Region.

Career Opportunities

A Doctor of Medicine degree can lead to many career opportunities depending on your area of specialisation or interest. Careers include Medical practitioners, cardiologists, physiologists, obstetricians, gastroenterologists, neurologists, and oncologists.

Real-World Experience

As with all our degrees, the Doctor of Medicine places a strong emphasis on practical training and experiential learning. Throughout the four years of your study you will undertake clinical placements in a variety of settings, including aged care facilities, public and private hospitals and general practice.

Professional Accreditation

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) is accredited by the Australian Medical Council as meeting national standards of medical education, permitting graduates to receive provisional registration and become a junior doctor (also known as a doctor-in-training) and enter the medical workforce.

Scholarships

Scholarships provide financial support to students while they are completing their studies. There are various scholarships available to prospective and current students, across all study levels and campuses.

Fees and Costs

This Program has the following loan scheme(s) available for eligible students:

• Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP)
• Domestic Full Fees
• International Full Fees

The exact fee for an individual student will depend on the mix of courses studied. All costs and fees are provided in Australian Dollars (AUD$).

For indicative fees and information on how to pay, including Government loan schemes and our online calculator, visit our Fees, costs and scholarships page.

Key Dates

• Application Period: 1 February 2025 - 30 November 2025
• International Student Interview Ranking: 1 April 2025 - 30 November 2025
• International online panel interviews: 19 May 2025 - 30 November 2025
• Rolling Offers: 1 June 2025 - 30 November 2025

Practical Component

Clinical Placements and rural work experiences are included in this program. Students are to complete all clinical placements including after-hours work and attend all rural experiences.

Your third and fourth years are clinically-based and present the opportunity to explore the different disciplines of medicine. You will complete discipline-based rotations in a clinical setting.

• Year 3 rotations include: Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, General Practice, Surgery, Medicine, and Psychiatry.
• Year 4 rotations include: General Practice, Surgery, Medicine, ICU - Intensive Care, and ED - Emergency.