Clinical Medicine: Year 5 (Specialty rotations)

Building on the clinical skills learnt in year four, you will spend year five (year 2 of the clinical course) studying the major clinical specialties. The year consists of course modules which currently include: community based medicine; clinical neurosciences, rheumatology and emergency medicine; paediatrics; psychiatry and women's and reproductive health. It is particularly important for students to develop their time management skills during this year, to make the most of the opportunities that arise eg between lectures, clinics etc, to undertake self-directed study in order to consolidate their learning from clinical and formal teaching environments.

Please note that the course structure below relates to the current curriculum and may be subject to change, in line with the GMCs 'Outcomes for Graduates' standards guidance.  Click here to go to GMC website and view 'Outcomes for Graduates'.

Clinical Neurosciences

The Clinical Neurosciences, Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), and Ophthalmology (Clinical NEO) block covers essential and important curricular topics in the form of seminars, small group teaching, and clinical rotations. The first two weeks of the block focus on knowledge and clinical skill acquisition to prepare students for the subsequent clinical experiences in ward, outpatient, and community settings. Throughout the block, Fridays are reserved for case-based learning and interactive sessions to consolidate core clinical and professional competencies. Clinical tutorials are delivered throughout the block to refine application of knowledge to clinical settings.  

Community Based Medicine Block

clinical geratology

With the population rapidly aging, geratology presents some of the most difficult and intriguing challenges in medicine. Indeed, it may now be the widest medical specialty (ranging from acutely ill patients to those who need longer-term care). The course in clinical geratology is spread over years 4, 5 and 6 in short bursts, with the main attachment in year 5. Lectures and seminars are based mainly on interactive, case-based problem solving, while bedside teaching is organised at various clinical settings: the geriatric Day hospital, Community hospitals with rehabilitation wards, Acute geratology and medical wards, Stroke unit (thrombolysis, acute stroke), Outpatient clinics and Trauma wards (orthogeriatrics). During the attachment students also observe patients’ contacts with therapists (e.g. occupational therapist, physiotherapist) and participate in a multidisciplinary team meeting as appropriate. They are taught how to perform comprehensive geriatric assessment and participate actively in assessing and managing older patients.

Dermatology

Dermatology is an important specialty. At least a quarter of the population have skin disease. The dermatology course is based at the Outpatient Department at the Churchill. This is a busy department with 8 consultants. Clinics include general dermatology, daily skin tumour/skin surgery clinics and many specialist areas of interest including skin allergy, chronic eczema, psoriasis, acne, paediatric and blister. The course aims to introduce you to important concepts in dermatology, and by contact with patients, to provide you with tools for diagnosis and insight into the impact that a chronic skin disease may have on quality of life.

Palliative Care

We pack a lot into the Palliative Medicine Course in the Community Medicine Block. Patients from the hospice are invited to talk to the students about their experiences, we have interactive small group lectures on symptom management, and actor-led sessions on communication skills and ethics. Students are divided into small groups and asked to research how they would treat real cases of patients who have recently been admitted to the hospice and these are then discussed by the whole group. Every student has the opportunity to do a placement either in a local hospice or with the Community Macmillan Nurses. The course receives good feedback and aims to give students a ‘toolkit’ to be able to look after terminally ill patients.

 Primary Health Care

The core primary care attachment is in year 5. During the course weeks, students are attached to individual practices, seeing patients themselves with the support of a general practitioner clinical tutor. They learn to communicate, manage their consultation time and make shared decisions with patients presenting with a wide range of clinical and social problems (many of which are seldom seen in hospital). In addition to time in practice, students also have departmental seminars and tutorials on a weekly basis. This part of the course is integrated with Palliative Care, Geratology, Public Health and Dermatology.

Population Health 2: Public Health

The clinical course in public health introduces the principles of population health and the specialist practice of public health in the UK. Teaching in the Department of Public Health includes a grounding in some of the population health disciplines that guide public health research and practice, including epidemiology, medical statistics, health promotion, health protection, occupational and environmental medicine, as well as offering opportunities to explore how health policy, health services and clinical medical practice in the UK relate to the needs of society.

Orthopaedics, Rheumatology & Emergency Medicine

Orthopaedics and Rheumatology are based at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, whilst Emergency Medicine is based at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The first course week involves an intensive skills-lab based compulsory attendance course aimed at providing students with the necessary skills, competence and confidence to deal safely with real patients later in the course. These sessions are run as small groups and are highly interactive, intensive and enjoyed by students. Students attend a number of compulsory teaching sessions and sign up for a variety of orthopaedic and rheumatology outpatient clinics and A+E shifts. Attendance in the operating theatres is positively encouraged and students also take part in Ambulance Paramedic shifts. 

Paediatrics

The Department of Paediatrics delivers the specialty rotation training in Paediatrics for Year 5 students studying medicine through the University of Oxford Medical School.

Paediatrics is the only medical discipline concerned with all aspects of the well-being of infants, children and adolescents - including their health, and their physical, mental and psychological growth and development. It is one of the most diverse and varied medical specialties studied at medical school - covering everything from babies born more than three months early, to young adults, and from children in hospital for only a few hours to those who spend their whole life navigating the health care system.

It is one of the few areas of hospital medicine where you can still be a true generalist but there is also a full range of sub-specialties and interests. We are limited only by the age of our patients. The different areas of paediatrics – acute general paediatrics, community, neonatology, and the various specialties – often require different skills and strengths so there is often something in paediatrics for everyone, whatever your interests and skills.

The principal aim of the undergraduate course is to equip students with the necessary tools to be able to take a good history from the parent and/or the child, and perform a competent clinical examination; to know about common conditions of childhood as well as rarer but still important conditions; and to understand growth and development, and the impact illness may have on these. We also aim to teach our students to place the child and their clinical problems within the context of the family and society in which they live – paediatricians need to be concerned not just with organ systems and disease, but also with environmental and social influences which have a major impact on children and their well-being. A good paediatrician needs to know about health as well as disease, and also must be advocates for the child, irrespective of culture, religion, race, gender, ethnicity or social status.

PSYCHIATRY

The Psychiatry course addresses the common and important mental disorders.  The introductory seminar series is followed by two three-week clinical attachments. These include experience in general adult psychiatry, old age psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, eating disorders and perinatal psychiatry settings. Clinical placements are available across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Swindon. Throughout the course students will also have weekly tutorials and simulation-based learning.  

WOMEN's AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

This course offers students a comprehensive exploration of the physiological, psychological, and social aspects of women’s and reproductive health across the life course. Building upon foundational pre-clinical knowledge, students will deepen their understanding of the presentation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of conditions specific to gynaecological health, sexual health, and pregnancy.

Students will develop essential skills in communication and in gynaecological and antenatal examination. The course also provides an opportunity for students to reflect on broader issues of health inequities, exploring how marginalised groups face disparities in reproductive health and how healthcare providers can advocate for equity in this field.

Structured as a two-week lecture series followed by a five-week clinical attachment, the course features diverse input from professionals across various disciplines and allied health professions. The course places a strong emphasis on lived experience and patient-centred care. Expert patients play a central role from curriculum development to lecture delivery to assessments.