MDSA40160 Professional Completion

Academic Year 2022/2023

The professional completion module is designed to instruct students in the final year of their medical degree in areas that will be particularly applicable to their first year working as a doctor. This 10 week module will run in Spring of the final year of the medical degree after the elective placement period. The module comprises a 7 week sub-internship followed by a 3 week clinical instruction block which includes revision in all major disciplines. Furthermore, during the module in March each year the students will be assessed on their knowledge of safe prescribing in the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA).

SUB-INTERNSHIP: The sub-internship provides the final year student with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills required for work as a junior doctor and to give the student hands-on experience of working as an intern. Students will be allocated to one of three groups (A-C) that will rotate through three separate teaching programs.

Program 1: Intern shadowing. Students will participate in 3 weeks of attachments to hospital interns (one medical and one surgical). Students are expected to ‘shadow’ the interns during the working day and during at least one evening overtime shift (from 4pm to 10pm). Students are expected to integrate into the day-to-day functions of the team to which the relevant intern is attached. Students are expected to gain hands-on experience in admission and discharge of patients, preparation for and participation in ward rounds and other multidisciplinary meetings as well as ordering of clinical investigations. A major focus of the intern shadowing program is the acquisition of competency in procedural skills such as placing of intravenous cannulae, performing ABGs, taking blood cultures, placing NG tubes and performing male urinary catheterisation. The sub-internship will be independent of other teaching activities and no formal teaching or tutorials will take place during the clinical attachment. Students will however, be expected to actively participate in educational activities associated with the team to which they are attached (e.g. radiology meetings, journal clubs, grand rounds etc.).

Program 2: Practical issues for interns. Students will undergo an intensive 2 week period of directed revision and instruction in practical issues relating to working as an intern. Broad topics to be covered include: Communication Skills, Basic Life Support, Advanced Life Support, Pharmacy in the Hospital, Challenges in Medicine for the Intern, Psychiatry for the Intern, Surgery Review, Infection Control and Hand Hygiene, Care in Medicine, Forensic and Legal Medicine review, and Manual Handling.

Program 3: Self-Directed Learning. Students will be given a period of two weeks for self-directed learning and clinical revision. Students are expected to revise major topics from all relevant disciplines taught during previous modules in preparation for their upcoming end of module assessment. A checklist of topics will be provided to guide the student in their revision. It should be noted that this list is developed as a study guide only and will not form a syllabus around which any further examinations or assessments will be designed.

CLINICAL INSTRUCTION: Students will undergo structured teaching in all major medical disciplines during a 3 week period in the module. This component will be clinically orientated and include review lectures in major relevant topics, seminars and clinical Masterclasses. These sessions will combine previously taught basic knowledge on diagnosis and management together with interpretation of common laboratory, clinical and radiological investigations.
Students will be encouraged to attend hospital wards in the two major teaching hospitals (Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St Vincent's University Hospital) to practice long cases which will be presented to clinical tutors. There will be a special emphasis placed on instruction in performing a long case examination in preparation for the end of module assessment. There will be no formal attachment to a specific medical or surgical team, thus enabling the student to seek clinical exposure to a wider range of clinical long cases.

PSA: The Prescribing Safety Assessment has been devised by the British Pharmacological Society and the Medical Schools Council (UK). It aims to improve competence and confidence in prescribing in newly qualified medical graduates, and ultimately to improve medical management and safety. It is a 2-hour online examination and 10% of the marks for PCM will be awarded based on performance in the PSA.

“8 DOMAINS” SEMINARS (given throughout the entire module)
Plenary seminars will take place, given by senior healthcare professionals addressing key aspects of the Medical Council’s “Eight Domains of Good Professional Practice”, which are fundamental to continuous professional development for all practicing doctors.