Welcome to MD1 2020

February 2020 saw students entering the first year of the University’s flagship Doctor of Medicine with a redesigned curriculum.

Led by the Department of Medical Education, the Melbourne Medical School's MD program redesign has been a substantial undertaking, with engagement across the School and Faculty, to design and deliver a  world-leading medical curriculum.

To begin their life as medical professionals, students were welcomed by Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Dave Wandin.

MD 1 students 2020
Welcome MD students onto the country by Wurundjeri Elder, Uncle Dave Wandin

Every Year 1 student was also individually welcomed to the School by an MMS academic or professional staff member. The ‘meet and greet’ provided an opportunity to discuss potential challenges and how students could be supported to progress through the course.  The feedback from this strategy has been excellent from both staff and students.

There is a significant focus in the new MD curriculum on the theme of professional practice.  This theme encompasses a range of areas relevant for developing as a health professional through the MD program and building the skills and knowledge to be effective and engaged medical professionals in the future.

We are continuing to build on the areas of First Nations health, reflective practice and inter-professional learning.  Specific content around wellbeing has been included to ensure students have the resources and strategies to look after their own health and that of others.

An exciting development in the new MD curriculum is the longitudinal clinical placement in year 1.  The placement has been designed to expose students to different clinical learning environments beyond the clinical schools.

As an overview, the first four weeks is spent preparing the students for learning in a clinical environment, with placements beginning in week five.  At this time, students will attend a general practice environment one day a fortnight, attend their clinical schools once every four weeks, and have one day every four weeks for self-directed learning.  This has been a fantastic partnership between the Department of General Practice and Department of Medical Education.

We continue to work closely with the School of Biomedical Sciences to refine and define core content in the Biomedical Knowledge theme.  There is a focus in the new MD curriculum on integrating learnings from professional practice, biomedical knowledge and clinical skills from day one.

The changes to the MD curriculum would not have been possible without the collaborations across the School, Faculty and our Clinical Schools.