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
- 1000 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 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.
Testimonials
A student’s perspective:
After my placements I feel like I have had a different approach to clinical learning. I feel much more engaged and I'm starting to think more about the bigger picture. It can be really easy to become engrossed in the theory so clinical placement was a great reminder of what I did. The clinic itself saw such a variety of patients and I think I learned a lot about patient communication specifically to those from different language groups. In one day I saw/spoke with a baby through to seniors, covid patients and vaccine hesitant patients. I can't emphasise how great this placement was for my clinical learning.
Excerpt from students evaluations
A GP’s perspective:
I learn as much from the students as they learn from me.
Excerpt from GP Supervisor survey 2021
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
The MD1 placement is a longitudinal community-based clinical placement. For many students, it is their first opportunity to work with real patients. The placement gives students early exposure to the intrinsic role that primary care plays in our health care system. It also provides an opportunity for students to contextualise and apply their learnings from the classroom and see patient-centred medicine in practice.
During the placement, students visit the same practice roughly once a fortnight. 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: Fifteen to eighteen days per student (Tuesday to Thursday for five or 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 a range of practice activities, and build a working relationship with their GP supervisor(s) through regular discussions regarding progress and 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 Practice (TTP) 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
GP Supervisor training
To support our GP Supervisors, we have a GP Supervisor Community which is where supervisors can access a range of resources to support them in supervising our students. When you are allocated a student, you will be given access to the community. If you are not sure of your login credentials or you are a new GP supervisor, please submit your details below and the Teaching & Learning Team will arrange access.
Enquiries
Phone: +61 3 8344 7276
Email: gp-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au
Reception and deliveries:
Department of General Practice
The University of Melbourne
Level 3, 780 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne
Victoria 3004
AUSTRALIA