Undergraduate - CourseBachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Honours)

The five-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) curriculum is designed as an integrated course incorporating four themes, within which units are taught in an interdisciplinary fashion by staff from across the faculty and in a wide range of learning environments (campus and clinical).

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.

The course features extended semester durations and requires approximately 25 formal contact hours per week in years one and two, though in years three to five, students will be expected to spend around 40 hours per week working in a clinical site. This provides students with time for self-directed study, 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.

This degrees will be awarded at the honours standard. The grading of this award is based on academic achievement.

The Themes

The course has a four-theme structure. These themes are:

• Theme 1 - Personal and professional development
• Theme 2 - Population, society, health and illness
• Theme 3 - Scientific basis of clinical practice
• Theme 4 - Clinical skills

The four themes run through all years of the course, but will not be of equal weight; nor will they be of constant weight throughout the course.

Theme 1

'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 health enhancement, professional responsibilities, communication skills, information technology, medical informatics and computing skills, ethics and legal issues, and clinical effectiveness.

Theme 2

'Population, society, health and illness' develops students' abilities to deal 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.

Theme 3

'Scientific basis of clinical practice' includes much of the human systems-based teaching in the course. The knowledge and concepts that underpin medicine, both in the basic medical sciences and in the clinical sciences, will be delivered within this theme.

Theme 4

The 'Clinical skills' theme encompasses the whole range of clinical skills. Practice in clinical skills (including procedural skills) is stressed early and often. 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.

Rural practice

Students are encouraged to spend time in rural areas. To meet the requirements of the Australian Government funded Rural Clinical Training and Support (RCTS program), students that hold a Commonwealth-supported place (CSP) are required to undertake a minimum of four weeks experience in rural areas. A cohort of students will be given the opportunity to spend up to two years in a rural site.

Awarding of honours grade

Students completing this degree may receive an overall honours grade based on a high level of academic achievement.

The honours grade is recorded in the unit MED5100 (Final honours grade) and is calculated from the results achieved in units studied as follows:

• 60 per cent of the result achieved for MED4000
• 30 per cent of the result achieved for MED2000
• 10 per cent of the overall average results achieved in year 5 of the course.

Students will receive an honours grade for the following scores:

• H1 - a result of 80 per cent or higher
• H2A - 79-75 per cent.
  

These course outcomes are aligned with the Australian Qualifications Framework level 8, the Bologna Cycle 1 and Monash Graduate AttributesAustralian Qualifications Framework level 8, the Bologna Cycle 1 and Monash Graduate Attributes (http://monash.edu/pubs/handbooks/alignmentofoutcomes.html).

Upon successful completion of this course it is expected that graduates will:

• be knowledgeable, skilful, reflective and compassionate
• be innovative in their approach to and solution of problems
• be skilled at accessing, appraising, and applying the best available evidence to their everyday practice
• be able to critically review medical research literature
• be able to develop a focused research question
• apply data analysis methods appropriate for a research question
• demonstrate awareness of the social, ethical, economic and environmental context of health and illness and psychological wellbeing and delivery of care
• be committed to the health of populations as well as individuals
• be concerned with issues of equity, quality and humanity in health care and act as advocates for the disadvantaged and dispossessed
• maintain high standards throughout their professional life by a commitment to life-long learning and teaching
• have the skill to address the key questions relevant to the community and to medicine
• be capable of leadership and yet be comfortable working as a team member
• uphold the community's trust and expectations of the role of a doctor
• be advocates for health by practising preventative medicine and health promotion
• recognise the essential role and use of research in underpinning medical practice.

Special requirements

Students must refer to the information available on the special requirements outlined below. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure they have the correct documentation.

Police checks

Students must have a current Police check regarding their suitability to undertake placements. Refer to the faculty's police checkspolice checks (http://www.med.monash.edu.au/current/police-checks.html) webpage.

Working with Children checks

Students must have a current Working with Children check regarding their suitability to undertake placements. Refer to the faculty's Working with Children checksWorking with Children checks (http://www.med.monash.edu.au/current/wwc-check.html) webpage.

Immunisation and infection requirements

In accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council recommendations, this course requires that students comply with the faculty's Immunisation and vaccination policy and proceduresImmunisation and vaccination policy and procedures (http://www.med.monash.edu.au/current/immunisation/). These are designed to provide maximum protection against the increased risk of some vaccine preventable diseases for students, patients and workers in a health care setting.

This policy, and the associated procedures require that students have certain specified vaccinations, and have their blood borne virus status determined, before they commence a clinical placement. Students who have not complied with this policy may not be able to undertake clinical placement, with the attendant academic consequences.

Prospective students are provided detailed information on the effect of blood borne virus infection on the scope of practice of health care workers. Students who test positive to a blood borne virus (including HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C) will be required to consult a specialist medical practitioner approved by the faculty to provide advice on any necessary restrictions on work practices to protect patients and others from infection.

First Aid Certificates

It is highly recommended that students hold or attain by the end of first semester, a current registered Level 2 or Senior First Aid Certificate.

Student registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

In keeping with a student's professional responsibilities, all MBBS students must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and must keep the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences informed of any matters that would impact on that registration.

Clinical practice units

This course requires students to undertake off-campus clinical placements. In the clinical setting students will have an opportunity to apply theory to practice under supervision. Attendance is mandatory for the clinical component of each unit.

Students must be aware of the faculty's Clinical Placement Guidelines.

Students will not be permitted to attend any clinical placements unless they have current valid Working With Children and Police checks, and have a satisfactory immunization status.

Clinical expenses

Students are responsible for all travel and accommodation expenses during clinical placements.

Years one and two

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:

• cardiovascular
• endocrinology
• gastrointestinal
• genomics
• human behaviour
• human development and growth
• immunology and infection
• metabolism
• molecules, cells and tissues
• musculo-skeletal
• neurosciences
• nutrition
• renal
• reproduction
• respiratory.

Years three and four

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 tutorial groups. A variety of clinical settings are 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 and pathophysiology 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:

• children's health
• general practice
• psychological medicine
• women's health.

Year five

The fifth year of the course is focused on facilitating the transition of students into the medical workplace as trainee interns and will be structured as a series of clinical rotations*. Students will participate in a range of learning experiences designed to substantially enhance their clinical reasoning, diagnostic and case management skills. Students will consolidate and enhance their knowledge, clinical skills and professional behaviours in five clinically orientated rotations:

• aged care
• emergency medicine
• medical
• surgical
• specialty.

In addition, students will undertake an elective rotation in a clinical area of personal interest, subject to faculty approval.

* Students choose from a range of placements offered by the faculty or may arrange to undertake an elective rotation in another faculty approved healthcare facility or university in Australia or overseas.

First year

Semester one

• MED1011 Medicine 1

Semester two

• MED1022 Medicine 2

Second year

Semester one

• MED2031 Medicine 3

Semester two

• MED2000 Year 1 and 2 final grade
• MED2042 Medicine 4

Third year

Semester one

• MED3051 Medicine and surgery 1

Semester two

• MED3062 Medicine and surgery 2

Full year unit

• MED3200 Introductory clinical studies

Fourth year

Semester two

• MED4000 Year 3B and 4C final grade

Full year unit

• MED4190 Specialty clinical practices
• MED4200 Integrated clinical studies

Fifth year

Semester one

• MED5091 Advanced clinical practice 1

Semester two

• MED5092 Advanced clinical practice 2
• MED5100 Final MBBS grade

Full year unit

• MED5102 Contemporary developments in clinical practice: Patient safety

• Medicine

Prior to graduation, eligible students may intermit their studies and apply for 0041 Bachelor of Medical Science which provides an optional one year honours research compliment to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Honours).

Students may exit this course with a Bachelor of Human Sciences after successfully completing at least 144 points of study.

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Honours)