If a student is unable to attend placement what should the student do?

If a student is unable to attend, they are expected to: Email their phase one or two officer Email the Medicine Placements team Telephone the practice before the start time of their scheduled activities

If a student does not attend placement as planned - what should the practice do?

If your student doesn't turn up and and you have not been informed of their absence inform the Medicine Placements team as soon as possible so we can make sure that they are safe.

What should the practice do prior to placement?

Please send out an email to the student introducing them to the practice and include a timetable if possible. Set out the expectations for the first day including expected time of arrival and the practice address (this is especially important if the practice has more than one site). Perhaps include some travel hints if necessary.

Information for all year groups about medicine placements

About the School of Medicine and the MBBS Course

The School of Medicine opened in 2015 with 36 students. This cohort graduated as Class of 2020, and applied for Foundation training in the UK.

The school has been in a period of considerable growth and now has around 800 medical students across the 5 years. The majority are overseas students. We also have a limited number of UK places and 2 UK scholarship places. These places are for students from the North West only. Our application process has a strong emphasis on widening participation.

Following a rigorous quality assurance process, the school was granted degree-awarding powers by the General Medical Council in February 2020. UCLan was added to the GMC’s website listing of institutions approved to award a primary medical qualification.

The MBBS curriculum

The MBBS has a spiral curriculum, with three vertical themes running through the course. These are:

Medicine in clinical practice (known as integrated science and clinical medicine)
Medical skills and quality care
Evidence informed practice of medicine

These themes combine in year 5 into Transition to Clinical Practice

In years 1 and 2, students are based at Preston campus. They undertake some short clinical placements in community settings or with our partner trusts.

In years 3, 4 and 5, students move away from Preston. Students will either be based:

In Victoria Mill at our Burnley Campus
In the National Centre for Remote and Rural Medicine at our Westlakes Campus in Cumbria

The school works with several partner trusts for delivery of clinical placements. We also work with General Practices, and third sector and other community healthcare providers.

Attendance

Students log their attendance via Timesheets in their e-portfolio.

They also collect written feedback for each session in a paper logbook. Although the use of two systems is onerous, there is currently no software available which would allow us to amalgamate these two aspects. For each half-day on placement, students will ask the member of staff they are with to sign off their logbook and add comments. Attendance is collated via the Timesheets by the UCLan administrative staff. Good attendance is a particularly important part of professionalism. As a result, 100% attendance is expected and is monitored by the School of Medicines.

Students are asked to bring their logbook to meetings with their supervisor. This will allow you to review your student’s attendance, and to review the activities they have logged and the comments that have been added by staff.

Medicine placement FAQs

If you have concerns about a student’s attendance, please issue a Professionalism Development Opportunity via completion of an Event Form. The Event Form system has options for Wellbeing and Safety, and Professionalism Lapses.

Choose whichever one you feel is most appropriate for the situation as you understand it. This will then be dealt with by the Professionalism, Wellbeing and Safety Tutor or Lead for Professionalism who will take appropriate action.

Please be assured that all students will have had a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check by the University prior to being allowed to attend placement. The student will have a copy of this, and we ask they have this available if you need to check.

The students also must complete the E-Learning for Health module for their year group. This includes safeguarding adults and children level 2 and resuscitation.

Role of the supervisor

The supervisor is a key individual in terms of the student experience and is a significant role model.

The role of the supervisor includes the following aspects:

To ensure there are suitable learning activities related to the learning outcomes
To monitor the student’s progress, wellbeing and attendance
To encourage reflective learning and use of portfolio
To provide constructive feedback including collation of feedback from the wider team

To meet with the student as per the schedule and complete the relevant forms; including review of:

Their attendance logbook
Their core clinical presentations log
Engagement with clinical case logs
To ensure cover if you are absent

Student feedback has demonstrated that students appreciate the following when they start on placement:·

That they are expected
That they are welcomed
That someone knows their name

If these are in place, it sets the placement off on the right footing.

We'll also ask you to make a summative judgement about whether the student’s performance during the placement has been satisfactory.

Health and safety induction

For each placement, the student will be expected to attend a workplace induction. This includes an expectation that the student remains compliant with the practice’s or community clinic’s health and safety advice. This should include, but is not limited to:

Panic alarm system
Infection Control
Raising concerns/whistleblowing/harassment/undermining/bullying policy
Confidentiality
Fire safety
Safeguarding
Chaperone policy
Complaints policy
Information and data handling
Needle-stick/accident policy

The Medical School and its partnership organisations recognise their responsibility to provide effective health and safety management systems. It is equally the student’s responsibility to operate within those safe systems of work that have been put in place.

Student feedback is essential as it enables us to monitor and improve what we do. We are also required to submit such data to our regulatory body, the General Medical Council.

In phase 2, student feedback gets collected via four methods:

Clinical Module Evaluation Form – students will get asked to complete this at the end of every clinical module or sub-module. Questions will cover all aspects of the module including campus day and placements (including GP).
Module evaluation questionnaire – these get administered at the end of the academic year. The questionnaire covers all aspects of the programme over the entire year.
Staff Student Liaison Committee – this meets each term and issues are brought to the meeting by the student representatives.
Unitu – this is an online platform that allows students to raise issues and propose solutions for the school to consider.

All feedback can be anonymous if desired.

Feedback is part of students’ professional responsibilities and is not an optional activity. Students are encouraged to give constructive feedback rather than just critical.

Students will be informed about any actions taken based on feedback via the Staff Student Liaison Committee and through the twice yearly “You Said, We Did” sessions.

If there is any important feedback relating to a GP placement, a GP Tutor from the Work-Based Learning Team will discuss this with the practice involved.

You will receive a copy of the feedback from the students after each placement which should be useful for planning of future placements.

Information for all year groups about medicine placements

About the School of Medicine and the MBBS Course

The MBBS curriculum

Attendance

Medicine placement FAQs

If a student is unable to attend placement what should the student do?

If a student does not attend placement as planned - what should the practice do?

What do I do if I have concerns about a student's attendance?

What do students need to do prior to placement?

What should the practice do prior to placement?

Role of the supervisor

Health and safety induction

Students with a disability

Influenza and Coronavirus vaccinations

Student feedback