King's College London

We will provide you with high level teaching from experts, which you will put into practice on your placements.

 

Stage and year Advanced Medical	Lectures, seminars and similar	Placement	Self-study time
HEM 1	30%	30%	40%
HEM 2	20%	60%	20%
HEM 3 & 4	15% including small group and case-based teaching in clinical blocks	75%	10%

 

Assessment

Assessment is split between that which is formative (where the primary role is to give feedback to student, this does not contribute towards the overall module/degree score) and summative (where the primary role is to demonstrate competence against course standards and learning outcomes). Formative assessment occurs through the years.

Summative assessment includes:

• portfolio-based summative assessment continues throughout the course in preparation for professional life
• progress (written) tests
• OSCEs (formative in HEM 1 and 3, summative in HEM 2 and 4)
• project assessment

There is also one external assessment in the final year of the programme that is necessary to support your Foundation Year 1 training.  It is not currently essential to pass this in order to graduate from the MBBS course.

The final summative single best answer paper is the national Applied Knowledge Test. The summative HEM4 OSCE is the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment. These two elements comprise the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA), which all UK medical students must pass as part of their degree before they can join the medical register. The MLA will test the core knowledge, skills and behaviour of doctors who want to practise in the UK.  Applicants should be aware that to obtain registration with a licence to practise, medical students will need to pass both parts of the MLA, and all their modules and be able to demonstrate their fitness to practise.

Location

We will use a delivery method that will ensure students have a rich, exciting experience from the start. Face to face teaching primarily at Guy’s campus will be complemented and supported with innovative technology so that students also experience elements of digital learning and assessment. There will be an enhanced emphasis on asynchronous digital content and small group learning during HEM year 1.

You will learn in a wide variety of hospital and community care settings. Students undertake placements at general practices and district general hospitals located in south London and southern England, currently they are mostly in Kent and Sussex. Placements outside of London offer a different and rich perspective on clinical learning, complementing the experiences gained in central London hospitals.

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, all students will experience placements at London and peripheral sites during their programme.

 

Outcome of course

On successful completion of the course, you will receive your MBBS degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to apply for provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), subject only to its acceptance that there are no Fitness to Practise concerns. Provisional registration is time limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1125 days in total). After this time period your provisional registration will normally expire.

Provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts. To obtain a Foundation Year 1 post you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate course through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates posts to graduates on a competitive basis. Generally, all suitably qualified UK graduates are allocated a place on Foundation Year 1.

On successful completion of Foundation Year 1, you will be eligible to apply for full registration with the GMC. You need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

Although this information is currently correct, you should be aware that regulations in this area may change from time to time.

 

Course Structure

Upon joining the programme HEM students will undertake a four-week introductory period before commencing the first year of the programme, which brings together science and clinical content delivered alongside clinical placements. The first year is a bespoke design for HEM students allowing for integration of content from years 1 and 2 of the conventional degree programme and with the addition of a Clinical Reasoning module. HEM 2 will see students increasingly following the same programme as the main cohort, with some variations to the project work. Students will then follow the same programme as all other medical students at KCL for HEM 3 and 4.