Studying at Newcastle Medical School

Overview

Newcastle Medical School was established in 1834 in the Northern city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The medical school follows a modern, integrated, systems-based curriculum, and was the first medical school in the country to operate an integrated medical curriculum. At Newcastle you’ll receive case-led teaching, which means using clinical cases to help you make the links between your new knowledge and clinical practice. For example a case of stroke can be used to learn and teach the nervous system, cardiovascular system, clinical skills, pharmacology, Public Health and
communication skills.

Newcastle place a heavy emphasis on UCAT score with historically high UCAT cut-off scores. Applicants meeting the minimum academic requirements with a strong UCAT score is highly likely to receive an invitation for interview.

Key Points

• UCAT
• Case-Led Teaching Approach
• Optional Intercalation

Insider’s Guide to Newcastle Medical School from Aasha, Newcastle Medical Student

What makes Newcastle unique to other medical schools?

Integrated Masters in Year 4 and the amount of clinical exposure you get in the first 2 years – You can do an integrated masters in between year 4 and 5. You can still do an integrated BSc between year 2 and 3 but many people tend to choose Integrated Masters and you can do it, at an external university as well. There are a wide range of Masters courses available at Newcastle ranging from the typical MSc and MRes to Masters in the History of Medicine as well. This does not affect your clinical placements so you will still continue to do your clinical placements in year 3 and 4. Every term, we have about 2 clinical placements (one hospital and one GP) and you are treated as healthcare professionals right from the start. You will be expected to carry out examinations on real life patients during the placements which provides a snapshot of what you will be doing in the clinical years

Course Structure at Newcastle Medical School

Year 1 at Newcastle Medical School

In Year 1 learning takes place in the format of case-based learning with 13 cases in the whole year. These cases are presented through lectures, seminars, and small group teaching. You will also be required to do three assignments, with one usually being a leaflet, second being an oral presentation and third being in the format of an essay. You will also have clinical skills sessions where you will be taught the different types of examinations alongside history. You will be tested on this in your OSCEs at the end of the year. Examination consists of 2 papers written at the end of semester 1 and semester 2. One paper is a single best answer whilst the other is short answer paper. At the end of first year, you will also have an OSCE exam, which is basically a test on the practical and clinical aspects of medicine. You will have 4 clinical placements in the whole year, 2 GP and 2 hospital placements

Year 2 at Newcastle Medical School

Year 2 follows the same structure as Year 1. In Year 2, you will cover cases 14-25. The style of teaching and exams will be the same. Instead of three assignments, you will be required to do two instead. The number of clinical placements in Year 2 remain the same as Year 1. At the end of year 2, after exams, you will be expected to complete three weeks of placements to transition properly into clinical practice and prepare for the clinical years.

Year 3 at Newcastle Medical School

Year 3 consists of clinical placements. For the first semester, you will spend about 4 days in hospital and half day in GP. After Christmas, you will spend the whole day in a GP instead of half day. Most of your teaching will be done in hospitals and GPs with a few seminars as well. The teaching is small group teaching with usually 1-4 people with you in your GP or ward in hospital. Seminars tend to be larger with approximately 20-30 people. You are very rarely on campus. There will be the opportunity for you to do your SSCs in this year as well.

Year 4 at Newcastle Medical School

In Year 4, the structure is like Year 3 with clinical placements in secondary and primary care. You will be expected to improve your history-taking, and examination skills with patients whilst tutors and senior clinicians supervise you. From Year 3 onwards, all the teaching will be done at the teaching facilities usually in the form of seminars or on wards. At the end of Year 4, all students will undertake an 8-week period of elective study with many students opting for international placements and many also choosing to stay within the UK. Information and help will be provided by the medical school during Years 3 and 4 to help you make an informed decision. There will also be a 4 week-block for SSCs in Year 4 as well as Year 3.

Year 5 at Newcastle Medical School

Like Year 3 and Year 4, you will continue with clinical training at the teaching hospitals around Newcastle. You will participate in placements as well as clerkships to prepare you for Foundation Programme training.

Teaching Style at Newcastle Medical School

What is the general teaching style at Newcastle? E.g., is it PBL/Traditional? etc.

The teaching at Newcastle is Integrated with more interactive seminars than lectures. Teaching involves case – based learning with lectures, seminars, small group learning and self-directed learning. They also provide DR sessions for anatomy and clinical skills for clinical examinations and procedures. This is for the first two years. The final three years is on the hospital/GP sites and teaching is usually done through seminars and on wards, examining patients. There is hands-on learning in the clinical years compared to the pre-clinical years.

Does Newcastle offer dissection?

No, they provide prosection, which is where the cadaver is already prepared before hand and we are only shown the part that is required for the case that we are doing at that time. We do have the opportunity to do a full body dissection during our SSCs (self-selected components) in year 3 and 4, so you don’t completely miss out on full body dissection. The best thing about the anatomy at Newcastle is the way in which it is taught.

Does Newcastle offer a BSc? If so, how is the BSc year?

Newcastle offers both a BSc and an integrated Masters, and they provide different courses, some examples include MSc, MRes and MEd.

What is the pre-clinical / clinical split like? Do you get early clinical exposure?

Early clinical exposure is provided, so it is a good transition from pre-clinical years to clinical years. We get clinical placements every month in year 1 and 2, with placements alternating between hospital and GP. You will be treated as a healthcare professional in your placements, and you will be asked to histories and examinations during the placements and once it is over, the doctors will ask for your opinions on diagnosis and treatment plan. I really enjoyed this because it helped me to practically apply everything, I had learnt in my lectures.

Social Life at Newcastle Medical School

What are the clubs and societies like?

There are plenty of clubs and societies at the university. We have societies ranging from cheese and wine society to board games societies. We also have sports clubs within the university, and you can try out for the first, second and third teams. We also have medical societies such as Newcastle anatomy society and Newcastle GP society. These allow to find people with the same interests as you and allow you to find mentors and meet clinicians in the specialty that you are interested in for later in your career. We also have medical clubs such as a medics netball, medics football and medics hockey teams as well.

What is the social life like?

Our social life is one of the best with a vast range of nightclubs and bars. If that is not your thing, then there are so many other options as well such as mini golf, cinemas, and restaurants available as well 

FAQs