Accident and emergency medicine
Students will be distributed among the accident and emergency medicine departments of various hospitals to ensure maximum exposure to patients and a low ratio of students to patients. An entire two and a half week teaching block will be devoted to this program. This attachment has two major aims for students. The first is to learn simple practical skills such as venepuncture, examination and suturing of wounds, application of plaster casts, taking electrocardiographs, cardiopulmonary resusitation, catheterisation of the bladder, injection of drugs, insertion of nasogastric tubes and the application of dressings. Students will also learn how to take observations of temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and conscious state. The second is to see the different types of patients who attend an emergency department, with a particular emphasis on observing the process of triage; recognising the signs of life-threatening illness; observing the treatment of acutely ill patients; and observing the spectrum of patients and problems not usually seen outside the emergency department.