Monash University: University Handbooks: Undergraduate handbook 2004: Units indexed by faculty
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Course abbreviation: MB BS + Course code 0040 + Clayton on-campus study only
The prerequisites for entry into the MB BS are:
The medicine course at Monash University is only available to:
All applicants will be required to sit an aptitude test - the Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT).
Applications to sit the UMAT normally close in June and the test is usually held at the end of July.
For information about the UMAT, contact telephone (03) 9277 5673, fax (03) 9277 5757, email umat@acer.edu.au or visit the website at http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/university/umat/intro.html.
Applications for medicine at Monash University are made through VTAC. Telephone 1300 364 133 or visit the website at http://www.vtac.edu.au/.
Applicants must apply to sit the UMAT and apply through VTAC for a place in the medicine course.
Approximately 600 applicants will be invited to attend a semi-structured interview in December, with pre-selection based on the UMAT score.
In addition, the majority of applicants for the Dean's Rural List will be interviewed. Interviews will be conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Wellington Road, Clayton.
The faculty will determine those applicants who are to be interviewed. Applicants cannot request an interview.
In exceptional circumstances, where the applicants invited for interview have planned overseas travel commitments and will be unavailable in December, the faculty may grant an early or late interview. These interviews will be conducted during the first week of December and on one interview day in early January.
Potential Dean's Rural List applicants may also apply for an early or late interview prior to their eligibility being determined by the faculty. Only those subsequently deemed eligible will remain in the final ranked list.
Applications for an early or late interview must be received, in writing, at the faculty office by 7 November 2003 and should include written support from the applicant's school principal and documentary evidence of the reasons for unavailability during December (eg a copy of airline ticket or travel itinerary).
The interview, of approximately 45 minutes, is conducted by a three-member panel of trained interviewers.
The interview questions have been designed to determine which applicants have relevant personal qualities such as leadership ability and motivation to succeed in the medical course.
There are two types of questions:
In the interview, the panel will try to assess several personal qualities in each applicant, including:
Quality of motivation - Applicants should be able to demonstrate a realistic knowledge and understanding of what is involved in both the medical course and a career in medicine.
Appropriateness of interpersonal style - Applicants should be able to discuss leadership, particularly the ability to inspire other people, and teamwork, particularly the ability to work within a collaborative unit. We expect our students to have the ability to listen and be non-judgemental and to have the flexibility to adapt to new situations. All of these attributes should be developed to an extent appropriate to the applicant's age and maturity.
Communication skill - Doctors must be able to communicate effectively with others. We expect our applicants to demonstrate appropriate ability in communication skills during the interview.
In addition, as part of the assessment of communication skill, applicants may be asked to `detechnicalise' a scientific concept, ie to explain the concept in non-technical terms. Applicants may also participate in an `active listening exercise' in which they may be expected to answer specific questions concerning a short story that will be read to them by one of the panel members. As the interview process is continually refined, other exercises may be included.
The final ranked list of applicants from which places will be offered will take into account the applicant's UMAT score, ENTER and performance at interview.
Students who have not achieved their entrance qualifications in Victoria must hold qualifications equivalent to those held by local candidates. The qualifications must include the same prerequisite units as those for local candidates. Such applicants must demonstrate at least the same level of academic merit as that required for local applicants.
The five-year MB BS curriculum is designed as an integrated structure incorporating four themes, within which units are taught by staff from across the faculty, in an interdisciplinary fashion. This course, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) may be awarded at either pass or honours standard.
During the early years of the course, the basic medical and behavioural sciences (anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, psychology and sociology) are introduced within interdisciplinary units. These units will all have a major focus on clinical issues through clinical case studies.
The course is delivered in about 20 formal contact hours per week. This provides opportunity for self-directed study, and for students to be given the time and opportunity to be in control of their own learning and to develop skills in problem-solving and the critical appraisal of information.
For the first two years, semesters comprise 13 weeks. In third and fourth years, the course has been structured as two semesters of 18 weeks each. In fifth year, the semesters are a notional 18 weeks, although there may be some requirement for more flexible arrangements.
The basic knowledge, skills and attitudes that form the curriculum will be related to clinical and other problems or issues. Learning in an appropriate medical context is an overarching principle of the new curriculum.
A patient-based learning model will be used, where the knowledge, skills and attitudes that form the content of the curriculum are brought to life via formal patient-oriented teaching exercises. Most of the learning activities are designed to support students as they work with patient-oriented scenarios.
The faculty has adopted a four-theme structure. These themes are:
The four themes will run through all years of the course, but will not be of equal weight; nor will they be of constant weight throughout the course.
`Personal and professional development' will focus on the doctor as an individual. This theme concentrates on the personal attributes and qualities needed by medical students and, ultimately, medical practitioners. It covers elements of communication skills, information technology, medical informatics and computing skills, ethics and legal issues, and clinical effectiveness.
`Population, society, health and illness' provides the structure to develop students' abilities in dealing with broader society and population issues. Students will consider the social, environmental and behavioural contexts of illness and the practice of medicine, including an emphasis on rural and remote Australia. Other elements of this theme will be built around health promotion, epidemiology, public health, community diversity, population and global health, and a range of other societal issues. The history and philosophy of the scientific approach to medicine will also be included, extending this to approaches to knowledge and information, and an understanding of evidence-based medicine.
`Foundations of medicine' includes much of the systems-based teaching in the course. As the term 'foundations' implies, much of the knowledge and concepts that underpin medicine, both in the basic medical sciences and in the clinical sciences, will be delivered within this theme. In the early semesters, the basic sciences of anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology and psychology of each system will be taught in an integrated manner and from a relevant clinical perspective.
The `Clinical skills' theme encompasses the whole range of clinical skills, from the earliest to the later parts of the course. Practice in clinical skills is stressed early and often, and includes procedural and clinical skills. The approach in clinical skills development will be to develop defined clinical competencies. This will begin with clinical aspects of communication skills and move through history-taking and physical examinations to the more advanced clinical and procedural skills.
In the early years of the course, this theme will include general practice and rural visits, and an introduction to community clinics and hospitals. Multi-professional education will be promoted through educational interactions with nurses, paramedics, radiographers and other health care professionals. The rural health activities in the early years of the course will provide opportunities for our students to interact with a range of health care professionals. The later years will include advanced elective experience in diverse medical work places, both within and outside the hospital environment.
The five-year curriculum will include a minimum of 12 weeks experience in rural areas for all students. Approximately 25 per cent of the class will receive 50 per cent of their clinical education and training in rural areas. In second semester of the first year, groups of about 25 to 35 students are attached to a rural community for one week. In semesters three and four of second year, students are attached to a rural community or a rural GP in pairs or as individuals for a fortnight; half of the class in semester three, half in semester four. The other half of the class will be involved in a two-week clinical skills activity.
In the later years of the course, a minimum of nine weeks will be spent in medical specialties and general practice placement in a rural area. Additionally, students are encouraged to join the faculty's Rural Students Club - Wildfire.
Students should note that degree regulations are the formal prescription of the requirements to complete a degree, and it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the requirements are understood.
For the protection of other students and themselves, students in the MB BS course should comply with certain precautionary procedures. These consist of confidential tests for immune status (including blood tests and skin tests), receiving vaccines and having X-rays where the evidence indicates these are appropriate and there are not specific contraindications in individual cases.
This policy is in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council advice that educational institutions training students in health sciences should ensure that such students are protected as far as possible by vaccination against risks of infection.
The faculty recommends that all students accept responsibility for having up-to-date immunisations before commencing the MB BS course. Immunisations recommended are diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis and hepatitis B.
Prospective students should note that on enrolment, students are provided with detailed written information and, as appropriate, counselling about the effect that HIV or hepatitis B infection may have on the ability of health care workers to practise their profession. In addition, arrangements will be made by the faculty for every student to have a personal consultation early in the first year with an infectious diseases physician. At this time, a check for each student's immunity to diseases such as tuberculosis will be conducted and students will be offered personal advice and counselling about infectious diseases and their personal health.
Organisations that host clinical and community placements may require students to have obtained a police check regarding their suitability to undertake such placements. All enrolled and prospective students are advised that they will be required to obtain and pay for a police check prior to undertaking the clinical and community placements in their course.
All MB BS students must register with the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria in order to have access to clinical placements. The faculty will advise students in this procedure as part of the enrolment process.
In the first week of the first year of the course, students will attend a Residential Transition Program, designed to focus on transition to university life, personal ethics, healthy lifestyle, group support and introduction to communication skills.
Throughout the first two years, blocks of systems-based sub-units will be presented with a mix of basic medical science content, patient-based presentations and discussions in small groups. These sub-units combine basic content with generic skills and are set in appropriate clinical contexts, largely through the use of patient-oriented learning. Topics include molecules, cells and tissues; human development and growth; genomics; metabolism; musculo-skeletal; cardiovascular; respiratory; renal; endocrinology; neurosciences; reproduction; human behaviour; gastrointestinal; nutrition; immunology and infection.
In the third and fourth years, the clinical content is delivered in blocks of clinical rotations, with a mix of advanced and applied medical science, patient-oriented presentations, and discussions in small groups. A diversity of clinical settings is used, including a range of hospitals, ambulatory clinics and the rural environment. The emphasis will be on students gaining real clinical experience, participating in patient care and understanding how health care teams work.
In the third year, students will study `Integrated medicine and surgery' which will be taught together with a series of problem-based and core-based learning sessions. The fourth year will be largely taken up with the core clinical rotations of `Women's and children's health' and `Community and psychological medicine'. The major hospitals involved in these rotations include Monash Medical Centre (Clayton and Moorabbin campuses), The Alfred, Caulfield General Medical Centre, Box Hill, Cabrini, the Epworth, Frankston and Dandenong hospitals, Maroondah, Latrobe Valley and various other country hospitals.
The fifth year of the course will be structured as a series of electives and selectives*, where students will choose to complete their degree by gaining wider experience in chosen disciplines and specific areas of interest.
* Students choose from a range of alternative placements offered by the faculty.
* Details of units for years 4 and 5 will be published in the 2005 handbook.
The six-year course is currently undertaken by students who have commenced their studies up to and including 2000. This course, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) is of six years duration. The degrees may be awarded at either pass or honours standard.
Students spend the majority of the first three years on the Clayton campus and follow the university pattern in relation to duration of semesters and examinations. The last three years of the course will be spent in teaching hospitals. The Alfred, Monash Medical Centre, Box Hill Hospital, Dandenong Hospital, Frankston Hospital, Maroondah Hospital and Latrobe Valley Hospital are major teaching venues. Teaching also takes place in other hospitals and centres that provide opportunities for clinical teaching. The length of the teaching year in the last three years of the course will be considerably longer than in the first three years.
The medical curriculum is designed as two overlapping wedges. The first wedge, basic medical sciences, has its blunt end at the beginning of the course and its point in the later years, and the second wedge, clinical studies, has its sharp end early in the course and its blunt end at graduation. The overlapping wedge design allows the basic medical sciences to be taught in the context of their relevance to patient care early in the course. Later in the course the tail of the basic science wedge reinforces clinical teaching with a strong scientific foundation.
The early years in the curriculum integrate teaching between various disciplines and emphasise the development of suitable communication and observation skills. There are no separate and identifiable courses in physics and chemistry in first-year medicine, as relevant issues from these disciplines are taught within the biological framework where they are most applicable.
Anatomy (structure) and physiology (function) of the organ systems (eg the cardiovascular system and the digestive system) are integrated rather than taught and examined as separate courses in anatomy and physiology. Other aspects of the basic medical sciences are integrated into a series of modules on the principles of cellular and molecular biology, rather than being taught as separate units.
Course options are available in years one and three with year two undertaking a rural medicine attachment. While all students will still be required to reach a level of basic competence in all aspects of the course, the options will allow students to study selected areas in greater depth than was previously possible. In addition to their direct vocational significance (ie the opportunity to gain extra knowledge in a field related to one's proposed postgraduate career) the options will be of general educational advantage because they will provide an opportunity for more independent, self-directed learning. Some options are of an interdisciplinary nature, and all offer an opportunity to pursue and broaden knowledge and skills in selected areas of interest.
The faculty is committed to providing significant teaching in rural medicine.
Students participate in a one-week rural medicine attachment in second year with opportunities to undertake additional rural studies in the option program of years one and three.
In the later years of the course, a minimum of seven weeks will be spent in medical specialties and general practice placement in a rural area. Additionally students are encouraged to join the faculty's Rural Students Club - Wildfire.
Students should note that degree regulations are the formal prescription of the requirements to complete a degree and it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the requirements are understood.
Refer to five-year course entry.
Fifth year consists of a series of hospital rotations with a strong emphasis on hands-on experience. Rotations are through medicine, surgery, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynaecology with specific teaching in palliative care and infectious diseases. In addition a block of teaching in Public Health is undertaken. The major hospitals involved in these rotations include Monash Medical Centre (Clayton and Moorabbin campuses), The Alfred, Caulfield General Medical Centre, Box Hill, Frankston and Dandenong hospitals, and Maroondah, Latrobe Valley and various other country hospitals. The tuition is in many cases strengthened by using a logbook approach to check that all students have been trained in the appropriate procedures and skills.
Sixth year consists of six, six-week blocks of teaching. Students study General Practice, Psychological Medicine, two core selective blocks in each of Medicine and Surgery and two selectives from a range of options. In addition students complete a six-week elective attachment. Students spend time in public and private hospitals and will have the opportunity for rural attachments.
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