Year 2, 2012-13
Head of Year: Professor John Laycock
Deputy Head of Year: Dr Keith Gould

Introduction to the course

 
You will recall that the six-year course comprises the MBBS and BSc programmes. In November, you will begin the first medical and surgical hospital-based attachment, which lasts for three weeks. As many sessions involve small group teaching, you will be given detailed individual timetables when appropriate, as well as detailed guides and handouts relating to the clinical attachments. As with Year 1, some of the Year 2 teaching (particularly the Themes courses) is based in the Sir Alexander Fleming building (SAFB) on the South Kensington campus, but some teaching is based at other campuses, particularly at Charing Cross. For the clinical attachment you will also work in the main-base and associated hospitals.
The Scientific Basis of Medicine forms the larger part of Year 2. It explores the principles underlying normal human organisation and function from molecular to social levels. Through selected clinical examples it examines how illness may arise and manifest itself and deals with the principles of how drugs act and how they may be used in treatment. In this part of the course you will learn further basic skills involved in the examination and testing of patients at clinical, radiological, microscopic and molecular levels. During Year 2 the scene shifts to a consideration of the body’s regulatory systems (central nervous, endocrine and motor systems and their anatomical contexts) as well as psychology, reproduction and development, pharmacology and the principles of drug therapy. This is followed by a review of the cellular and molecular basis of pathology, immunology and infection. In the final term important aspects of the interaction between the multiple organisational and functional elements of the human body will be examined. There will also be a course in medical ethics and further problem-based learning and personal and professional development. Towards the end of Year 2 you will take the Science and Patient course which includes sessions on water and electrolytes, the physiology of infection , cardiorespiratory performance, nutrition and drugs and the hospitalized patient interwoven with a continuation of the teaching of generic skills that will be useful in your BSc eg critical appraisal and data analysis.
The course over Year 2 is organised for purposes of planning, timetabling and assessment into themes as follows
  • Molecules, Cells and Disease (delivered in terms 4 and 5) includes teaching on immunology, haematology, microbiology, laboratory diagnostic methods and cancer. You will also begin work on the Science and Patient course.
  • Life Cycle and Regulatory Systems (delivered in terms 4 and 5) includes reproduction and development, neuroscience and mental health, the endocrine & musculoskeletal systems, the anatomy of the head, neck, spine & limbs, and pharmacology & therapeutics.
  • Foundations of Clinical Practice (delivered in term 5 and also longitudinally in a system of rotations) includes clinical communication and medical ethics.
  • Science and Patient (delivered in term 6) is designed to assist you in integrating the various levels of body organisation and function that you have studied during the last five terms by the consideration of specific complex issues in health and disease. Although you will learn much that is new, you will also find that you need to review and use knowledge and understanding that you already (should) have on board. We hope that you will find this course not only stimulating but also helpful as you move on to clinical attachments in which you will be working with sick people with all their complexity of problems and needs. We cannot hope to cover more than a few examples of how the whole person is involved in issues of health and disease. We have chosen a sequence of five major issues that span a wide range of problems. The modules for 2012/13 are Water and Electrolyte balance, Cardiorespiratory performance, Drugs and the hospitalised patient, Normal and abnormal nutrition and the Physiology of infection. Specific details will be issued later in the year. We will not publish objectives for this theme, because the emphasis is on thoughtful independent study around the taught topics rather than on learning a core mass of information.
Doctor and Patient in Year 2 consists mainly of the problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials during which you will continue to develop the important skills of defining the objectives of a task, working as a team to produce a result and of presentation of your findings. You will also have 5 sessions (some taught and some computer based learning) on Personal and Professional skills (please see your Dr and Patient guide for further details).
Clinical experience
There will be a 3-week clinical attachment in late November 2012. The main objective of this attachment, which may be at any of the hospitals associated with the Faculty, is to enable you to become much more familiar with the workings of hospital teams and the many facets of patient care within the NHS. History-taking and patient contact is the other main focus. During this attachment there will be no formal lectures, except for some initial orientation, and you will not be attached to a GP practice. More details will be circulated in the autumn term.
Professor John Laycock is the Head of Years 1 and 2 and the Deputy is Dr Keith Gould. Each of the themes forming Year 2 of the course has an organising team who plan the theme’s aims, content and learning methods. The following members of the academic staff are the leaders of these organising groups and take responsibility for the interactions between the themes:
  Molecules, Cells and Disease Dr Keith Gould
  Life Cycle and Regulatory Systems
Professor Steve Gentleman
  Foundations of Clinical Practice Dr Elizabeth Muir
  Science and Patient Dr Gareth Barnes and Dr Mike Wilson
  Dr and Patient Dr Elizabeth Muir

In general, questions and comments on individual teaching sessions should be directed to the member of staff who runs the session. Broader educational or academic issues should normally be raised by one of the routes indicated under the heading of Educational Quality.
Each theme will provide you with one or more study guides. These contain a wealth of information about the structure, content and objectives associated with each element of the course; you should bring them to all the relevant sessions.
Students are permitted to proceed with their approved course of study only if they maintain regular attendance and acceptable academic progress. You should therefore expect to undergo regular checks on your attendance and performance. The consequences of not maintaining adequate standards are explained in detail in the relevant policy document on the intranet. The same document will also explain what you must do if you are absent as a result of illness or if you would wish to request to absent yourself from your course for any reason. Remember that you are expected to have your ID card with you at all times when on Imperial and assocated hospital premises.

Year 4 (BSc)
The BSc course aims to teach you a particular pathway of medical science; there are 12 BSc courses (one taught by the Business School and the rest –by the Faculty of Medicine). The BSc comprises some Science teaching in the Year 2 Science and the Patient course and all of Year 4, which consists of a 2-w/k Introduction to the BSc, a taught-based 3-module Part B, and a research-based 2-module Part C.  Part B and C modules are 5 weeks each. For Part C of your BSc you can choose between a 10-week research BSc project (laboratory or clinical project, or a systematic review) and a Specialist course: Death, Autopsy and Law; History of Medicine, and Medical Humanities. Year 2 Science and the Patient will contribute 5% of your BSc degree, the rest 95% coming from your Year 4 mark.
Information about the existing BSc courses is available on the Year 4 page.

Educational quality and feedback
Your course is kept under continual review to maintain teaching quality and to continue to enhance all aspects of the curriculum and your experience. It is also quality monitored by the College, the General Medical Council and the Quality Assurance Agency. More information on the quality assurance processes
At specific points during the year you will be asked to give us feedback on the courses you are following through Student Online Evaluation (SOLE). This is very important to us because it helps us to address your concerns and enhance the quality of our teaching provision, to identify and share good practice, to identify excellent teachers and to target appropriate staff development opportunities. You will benefit from the feedback we have received and acted upon from previous years, and we will write to you at least once a year to let you know about changes we have made in response to your feedback.
SOLE is anonymous, so no one can trace your comments back to you. We can, however, tell who has and has not completed SOLE, which enables us to send reminders. Your teachers and relevant academic leads receive a report including your comments that help them to identify appropriate action. Providing feedback is a professional skill and responsibility; we therefore expect all students to take part in SOLE and to do so in a way which is honest but constructive.
The Staff Student Liaison Group (Years 1 and 2) is another channel to raise any concerns you have that affect your whole year group. Your year representatives are members of this committee and you should discuss any issues with them. Documents relating to the Student-Staff Liaison Group, including the minutes of the meetings, can be accessed online.
We welcome feedback on a formal and informal basis. If you have ideas on how the course might be improved, experience problems, or if the delivery of the course fails to meet your expectations, you do not have to wait for SOLE to let us know—write to Jo Williams or feo.u2us. We will address the issue as soon as possible and inform you of any action taken. Please also note our customer charter.

My E-portfolio

What does E-portfolio look like in Year 1?

e-portfolio

E-portfolio is a:

  • PLACE to keep your work, accessible online and viewable over time.
  • PROCESS that facilitates your learning and development

This takes effort. E-portfolio is YOURS to: Record, Reflect, Share and Feedback

     Record

  • Keep evidence of your skills, activities, events
  • Track your progress
  • Celebrate your achievements
  • Use your records as a basis for applications (e.g. for jobs)

     Reflect

  • Experience > evaluate > learn > apply = improve
  • How well are you doing it?
  • What and how can you improve?
  • How can you develop further?

     Share

  • Submit work for feedback

    - to tutors (including formal assessments)

    - to peers

  • Participate

    - Learn from others’ experience

    - Showcase yourself

     Feedback

  • To/from your peers
  • From your tutors

The Humanities Department offers the opportunity to study subjects which may be complementary to, or contrasting with, your main course of study and which can make an important contribution to your general education. Certain languages (Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish) are offered and can be taken for credit (counts towards the final degree) or for non-credit (extra-curricular). In addition, a range of non-language humanities courses are offered. The department also offers English language teaching for overseas students and a range of non-credit evening classes in languages and the arts.

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Last updated: September 4, 2012 5:39 PM