About our teaching
We teach core general practice skills to our Doctor of Medicine (MD) students throughout their degree and support Academic General Practice Registrars to learn research and medical education skills. We also train nurses in immunisation and primary care practice, and further our teaching excellence through ongoing research in medical education.
Our Student Placements:
We have one of Australia’s largest programs of general practice placements which ensures all our MD students receive exposure to general practice from early on in their medical training.
MD Placement Program – yearly statistics
- Over 650 MD students placed in GP practices
- 200 General Practices host students
- 300 GPs nominated to supervise students
- 10,000 GP student placement days
Our participating teaching practices are in metropolitan and rural areas across Victoria, providing our students with the opportunity to learn clinical skills in a diverse range of settings.
The aim of the GP placement is to:
- Enable the student to apply theoretical and other knowledge gained from their course of study in a practical setting.
- Undertake activities consistent with the course objectives.
- Provide the student with a range of clinical experiences in a community setting.
Teach with us
We welcome enquiries from general practices to become part of our teaching community. Please contact us via the button below, and a Teaching and Learning team member will be in contact to discuss your request further.
Placement Calendar
Placement days are provisional and subject to change.
- MD1 Stream A (longitudinal placement, students attend once per fortnight)
- MD1 Stream B (longitudinal placement, students attend once per fortnight)
- MD3 Rotations 1/3/5 (6-week block, students attend any 3 days per week)
- MD3 Rotations 2/4/6 (6-week block, students attend any 3 days per week)
- Holidays and non-teaching periods
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Placement details
MD Year 1: Longitudinal Clinical Placement (LCP)
Placement length: Twelve days per student (roughly 1 Thursday a fortnight for their academic year)
Placement period: March - October
Students attend your practice on a Thursday once a fortnight throughout the year, from March to October, with breaks for assessment and holidays. There are two streams (A and B) on alternating weeks. You can elect to host students in either stream, or both, as you choose.
While we encourage students to work with all members of your care team, we ask that students spend at least half of each placement day working with their GP supervisor.
For many students, it is their first opportunity to work with real patients.
We believe that providing a longitudinal placement early in the MD course enhances students’ appreciation of the role of GPs in the health care system, and we hope that it may result in higher uptake of general practice as a future career.
MD Year 3: General Practice Block (GPB)
Placement length: Three days per week for six weeks.
Placement period: Any of six rotations, between February - October
The GP Block placement is the general practice specialty training for students in the penultimate year of the MD. The objective of this placement is to develop medical students' knowledge and skills in primary health care. Students participate in all practice activities and meet regularly with GP supervisors to review progress and receive feedback.
Supervisors complete three formal assessments of students throughout the placement. Learning will predominantly occur in the practice through:
- Advanced history taking and examination (including some independent or parallel consulting);
- Formulating a problem list and determining diagnoses;
- Constructing a management plan that ensures that the goals of optimum acute care, preventative care and continuing care are met;
- Contributing to chronic disease management plans;
- Spending time with nursing, allied health, pharmacy and other practice functions such as home visits, clinical audits and research.
MD Year 4: Trainee Internship Selective
Placement length: Flexible; generally twelve or more days over four weeks
Placement period: Late September to late October
The Trainee Internship Selective occurs in the final semester of the MD program as part of the Transition to Internship (TTI) capstone subject. In this selective placement, final semester students explore in further detail a discipline that is of interest to them and that they may consider as a future vocation. Students choosing GP are expected to act as productive members of the care team, with their clinical skills being roughly equivalent to a new intern. Learning activities in this placement may include:
- reinforcement and extension of knowledge from the MD3 GP block rotation;
- further exploration of general practice as a discipline including developing appreciation for GP special interests; and
- participating in research, audits, or quality assurance projects at the practice
