Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1037-0919
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
The Faculty of Medicine is committed to the maintenance of the very highest standards. These are guaranteed by the personal values, and the high distinction in their professional areas, of the members of staff of the faculty. They are also contributed to by the high quality of the students in the medical course. Nothing but the top standards should satisfy these students whose own aspirations should be to achieve the highest levels of performance of which they are capable. The community at large expects the best professional competency in the medical graduates who will assume responsibility for its health. Moreover, the profession itself demands that the highest standards be guaranteed by the medical schools which are responsible for the training of future members of the profession. Our staff, our students and our graduates establish the reputation of our Faculty of Medicine.
The Faculty of Medicine expects the student body to be interactive with the staff and with the faculty itself. Student opinion is valued and critical comment on elements of the course is expected and appreciated. Students have a role in the development of faculty policy, in curricular reform, in faculty innovation and in presenting the faculty and its achievements in the public arena. The government of the faculty (the faculty board) includes student representatives, and the student body itself is organised, through its own society, to deal with aspects of the social support of students as well as some of their educational aspirations.
For all students, personal objectives must include the acquisition of the ability to read published work critically and to distinguish between fact and inference. Students must be able to form opinions and attitudes which are based on fact and evidence and which can be clearly and effectively expressed and communicated. The course content and its structure are always being evaluated, updated and revised so that the primary objectives of acquisition of essential knowledge, development of appropriate skills, learning of expertise in problem solving and formation of caring and considerate attitudes will be attended to. Great emphasis is placed on communication abilities because of the essential place which these occupy in all aspects of medicine and in all human interactions. Moreover, the faculty is committed to a concept of education as a continuing activity throughout the whole of a person's life.
The approach adopted in the course assumes that all students will recognise that they have personal responsibility for their own learning. Material will be provided, instruction will be offered, and concerned and caring teachers with great skill and expertise will be available to help. However, it is the personal development of each individual student that is the objective of medical education. This involves active personal attention by each individual to the acquisition of appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes and this must be understood to be the responsibility of each and every student.
Personal development is not just a matter of formal studies within the structure of the course. Medical graduates will find their satisfaction through work within a general community of which they become interacting members. Their contributions to that community, and the level of satisfaction they gain from their place within that community, will depend in large measure on their capacities for intellectual, social, sporting and cultural participation in community activities. These aspects of personal development must continue to be part of the daily lives of university students so that they will be comfortable in their later professional roles in a variety of contexts and so that, in spite of the heavy load of hard work in the course itself, they maintain their involvement in broader aspects of social life and do not become isolated bookworms whose only social contacts are with other studious medical students. In the past, medical students and medical graduates have been numbered among the most successful of the nation's athletes, musicians, sports persons, scientists, politicians, journalists, authors, poets, diplomats, welfare providers and philosophers. That should continue to be our expectation.
This welcome to the Faculty of Medicine at Monash urges you to join in all the activities which are available to you and to enjoy yourselves, while assuming full personal responsibility for your own approach to learning and to the development of your personal career.
R Porter, Dean, Faculty of Medicine
The teaching departments of the Faculty of Medicine are Anaesthesia, Anatomy, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Microbiology, Pathology and Immunology, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Psychological Medicine, Social and Preventive Medicine, Community Medicine and Forensic Medicine. In addition the faculty has a Unit of Medical Informatics and research centres including the Institute for Reproduction and Development, the Centre for Early Human Development, the Centre for Molecular Biology and Medicine and the Centre for Bioprocess Technology. The faculty also has strong links with research institutes such as the Baker Medical Research Institute (Alfred Hospital), The Prince Henry's Institute for Medical Research (Monash Medical Centre), the Mental Health Research Institute (Royal Park Hospital), and the MacFarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research (Fairfield Hospital).
The academic operations of the faculty are governed by the faculty board. The dean is the chairperson of faculty board and has administrative responsibility for the faculty. As head of the faculty, the dean is assisted with administrative matters by the faculty manager and administrative officers. Assistance with academic matters is provided by the associate deans and the assistant dean. Teaching in the hospitals and other clinical settings is coordinated through the offices of the clinical subdeans and the hospital clinical deans. Heads of departments and directors of centres and institutes provide academic leadership within their disciplines and are responsible for the management of staff and resources. Heads and directors together with all other professors play a significant role in the overall academic activities of the faculty.
The Monash course was formerly approved by the General Medical Council of Great Britain. The Australian Medical Council (AMC) now has the responsibility for the accreditation of medical schools in Australia. This accreditation `is required to provide assurance to State and Territory Medical Boards of the continued satisfactory standard of graduates from all Australian medical schools.' In 1993 the Monash Medical course was accredited for ten years - the maximum period attainable.
(1) The recommendation of the Federal Government's Inquiry into Medical Education and the Medical Workforce (the Doherty Committee) that personal qualities be taken into account in selection of medical students.
(2) A perceived community attitude that selection for medicine courses based solely on academic success at secondary school, may not be entirely appropriate.
(3) The curriculum places greater emphasis on humanistic issues than previously, so it is appropriate that selection procedures should be modified accordingly.
(4) The structured interview process has been tested since 1991 when all school leavers who obtained a place were interviewed on enrolment. An analysis of the data from student interviews indicates that the interview can predict how well students perform in some aspects of the new curriculum where Year 12 results are not predictive (eg the Health, Illness and Human Behaviour and the Clinical and Communication Skills subjects).
(a) a grade average of B in English;
(b) a grade average of B in Chemistry
(c) a grade average of B in Specialist Mathematics or Mathematical Methods and a grade average of C in Physics or Biology;
or
(d) a grade average of C in Specialist Mathematics or Mathematical Methods and a grade average of B in Physics or Biology.
(a) Those who have reached a certain threshold TER (eg above 99.00) - approximately 200 applicants.
(b) Approximately 200 additional applicants who have obtained a somewhat lower TER (eg 97.00 or above) and have demonstrated:
+ exceptionally high scores in English and Chemistry; and/or
+ exceptionally high scores in Biology, Mathematics or Physics; and/or
+ evidence of circumstances which have adversely affected their schooling.
Applicants who have taken more than two years for units 3 and 4 may be accorded lower priority for eligibility and not be called for interview. The TER score used by the Faculty of Medicine will include an adjustment for the previously published 10 per cent bonus for Physics. The faculty reserves the right to offer places to some applicants without interview.
(1) Interview content is derived from an analysis of what the selected people will be expected to do.
(2) The questions are standardised, ie similar questions are put to each applicant.
(3) Some sample answers are provided to the interviewers to enable them to give consistent ratings.
(4) The interview is conducted by a panel of interviewers.
The interview questions have been designed to determine which applicants have relevant personal qualities such as leadership ability and motivation to succeed in a long and difficult course. The style of questions will fall into two groups.
(a) Accomplishment questions. Applicants are asked about what they have accomplished in the past that would indicate to the panel that they have a particular personal quality.
(b) Situational questions. Applicants are asked what they would do in the future if a particular situation arose.
Interviewers have attended at least one of the half-day training programs. In training the interviewers, emphasis is placed on the following interview techniques: (I) creating a friendly and purposeful atmosphere; (ii) indicating that we are more interested in exploring what the candidates sincerely think and feel about a range of issues rather than simply their verbal `slickness'; and (iii) ensuring that all the topics listed for discussion are adequately sampled in the course of the interview.
1. Quality of motivation. This can be looked at in three stages: knowledge and understanding of what is involved in the medical course and in a career in medicine; motivating factors - a realistic desire to become a doctor, including underlying issues such as idealism, developmental history and identification; and perseverance - the ability to persist in the face of setbacks and frustrations.
2. Appropriateness of interpersonal style. Leadership - the ability to inspire other people; teamsmanship - ability to work within a collaborative unit; the ability to listen and be nonjudgemental; maturity - an indication that a person has reached an age-appropriate level of psychological development with an emerging sense of an independent self; flexibility - the ability to adapt to new situations.
3. Communication skill. The ability to communicate effectively with others, both in statement and in manner. As part of the assessment of communication skill, applicants will be asked to `detechnicalise' a scientific issue, ie to explain the issue in non-technical terms. Applicants will also participate in an `active listening exercise' in which they will be expected to summarise and answer specific questions concerning a saga. The saga will be presented by one of the panel members.
Interviews will be conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Wellington Road, Clayton, during mid-January, following the university's receipt of VCE results from VTAC.
The Faculty of Medicine will determine those applicants who are to be interviewed. Applicants may not request an interview.
If you wish to apply for the Monash medical course, please note that the Guide for prospective students which contains the appropriate application form is published by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), 40 Park Street, South Melbourne, Vic. 3205. This guide is available from VTAC in July or August and applications for courses close during September.
Non-school leaver applicants must also complete the faculty's supplementary information form, obtainable from the faculty office during September. Applicants must include copies of all relevant documentation with the supplementary information form.
Monash University students applying solely for a transfer to the Monash medical course must complete a form obtained from the faculty office during September. A VTAC application is not necessary.
Selection of international students is determined on the basis of the equivalency of each applicant's academic qualifications to those admitted in the quota for Australian citizens. In particular the faculty selection committee will give full regard to internationally recognised secondary qualifications such as the General Certificate of Education (A levels) in the United Kingdom and its equivalents. In addition to original documentary evidence of such qualifications, applicants may be required to attend for an interview which would assess their verbal command of the English language. In the latter years of the course medical students are given a considerable measure of responsibility in the hospital wards under the supervision of hospital staff. It is vital, in the interests alike of patients and staff in the hospital, that students should be able to communicate fluently and accurately in this situation.
The faculty selection committee accepts applications throughout the year and meets at regular intervals to make offers of places for the following year.
Prospective applicants should be aware that the fee charged for the course will be maintained only for the first three years of the course. A new fee, taking into account inflation and other factors, would then be established for each of the last three years of the course. International students who during the life of their course become permanent residents of Australia are not automatically guaranteed a place in the local quota for the following year. All such students are required to compete for a place in that quota and it is possible that insufficient places may preclude a student from continuing in the course. Applicants should note that there is no guarantee of an internship place for international students. Prospective international students should ascertain the mutual recognition procedures and internship policies of their home country government authorities.
Teaching by an individual department is appropriate to each `bodily system' being studied and therefore does not follow a conventional sequential pattern. It is therefore not possible to equate a subject in the medical course to an equivalent subject elsewhere.
The small number of medical students who have previously undertaken tertiary studies may individually, after consultation with subject coveners, be exempt from some components (eg practical classes) of a subject.
However, all students must participate in a common assesment process and pass all prescribed subjects within the medical course.