MBBS Year 4 Programme

An overview of MBBS Year 4

Integrated Clinical Care

This year aims to integrate knowledge of the clinical sciences into clinical practice and, by utilising extensive clinical practice and workplace based learning, in conjunction with formal teaching sessions, it also allows further development of the Clinical and Professional Practice themes and builds on the systems-based modules of years 1 and 2.

The year is divided into four parts: a short Foundation of workplace based and patient centred learning course followed by three long placement-based modules based in hospitals and associated community and GP settings. During the year you will focus on core presentations and the three broad categories of clinical care: community based care, ward based care and emergency care.

In each placement you will have a substantial period within a hospital to begin to know your teachers and the healthcare teams and how the hospital works. You will have opportunities to learn from patients and clinicians in the broad areas of medicine and the general medical specialties and interventions including surgery and anaesthesia.

The theme of Year 4 is ‘integrated clinical care’. The aims of this year are to:

  • help you to learn from healthcare experiences
  • become skilled at interviewing and examining patients with a range of problems across the range of healthcare settings
  • become familiar with the ways in which patients access the healthcare system and the pathways of care for a range of common presentations
  • understand the integrated approach to diagnosing and managing patients’ problems
  • safely and clearly document information about patients and their care in a clinical notes system

By the end of Year 4 you should: 

  • be an excellent workplace learner: being able to make the most of experiential learning opportunities;
  • understand how the NHS works and the roles of a range of healthcare providers within it;
  • understand how a range of common diseases present and are managed in both community and hospital settings;
  • be able to communicate comfortably and effectively with patients;
  • have developed a wide range of clinical skills and be able to carry out practical procedures competently;
  • be able to use the information gathered from patients, together with your developing understanding of medicine, to produce a differential diagnosis and problem list;
  • be proficient in undertaking and presenting a full medical clerking (history, examination, differential diagnosis, problem list and management plan);

This will be achieved through the following modules and assessments:

Assessments:

Full information about formative and summative assessments can be found on our Assessment and Prizes webpage and Assessment And Feedback Moodle Page.

Key contacts and dates: