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Medicine with a Gateway Year at Lancaster University - UCAS

Course summary

Being a medical student can present many challenges. We have a comprehensive network of formal and informal mechanisms in place to provide support and guidance, to help you cope with the transition to university, and throughout your clinical training. This course is for students who, for a number of restricted reasons, may be disadvantaged applying to our 5-year MBChB Medicine and Surgery programme. Please check our course pages for details. It provides an intensive one year grounding in the medical sciences and will prepare you to enter Year One of our standard MBChB Medicine and Surgery degree programme. The following describes the content of the 5-year MBChB Medicine and Surgery programme that you would progress onto pending satisfactory completion of the Gateway Year. Our MBChB is delivered through problem-based learning, lectures and clinical anatomy teaching. Problem-based learning is a form of small group learning. In groups of usually 7 or 8, you will explore realistic patient-based scenarios that resemble the clinical situations you may face in the future as a doctor. Your group will identify what you need to learn in relation to the scenario, and then you will independently research the topics, drawing on resource lists, seeking information and critically appraising its worth. An experienced tutor facilitates group discussions and feedback meetings to ensure that you learn the appropriate breadth and depth of material. In later years, in some instances, you will use real patients as a stimulus for your learning in place of written scenarios, but using the same problem-based learning process. Problem-based learning is an excellent method of developing and applying your medical knowledge, preparing you for your first day as a junior doctor and beyond. Your first clinical contact happens in year one when you will meet patients, under the supervision of a tutor, and discuss their experiences of healthcare and chronic illness. In year two, you will spend two days per week on hospital placement; you will also engage in a variety of community-related activities. Early patient contact allows you to practise your history-taking and examination skills, whilst providing a real-life context for your learning. In years three to five, the majority of your time will be spent on clinical placements, rotating through a variety of hospital and community settings to gain experience of different specialities. Your clinical placements will be in the acute hospitals and primary care settings of north and east Lancashire, and south Cumbria. A modern medical school, Lancaster utilises new technologies in its anatomy teaching, including Anatomage tables for virtual dissection. The School’s Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre has also invested significantly in ultrasound teaching, enabling you to learn anatomy, ultrasonography and clinical interpretation together. During your clinical skills training, you will learn the practical procedures and examinations required for clinical practice. In year one, clinical skills training takes place in the Clinical Skills Centre at Lancaster University. In years two to five, you will learn to perform clinical skills on patients whilst on clinical placements, supervised by senior medical staff. Doctors need to be able to communicate effectively with patients and their families in difficult times, to be their advocate and help inform their choices. In year one, you will study the evidence base around effective communication and start to develop your communication skills in a safe environment, through interaction with simulated patients (actors). From year two onwards, you will develop your communication skills further through interaction with real patients in hospitals and GP practices. In addition to the core curriculum, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue your own areas of interest in more depth through Selectives in Advanced Medical Practice and coursework assignments.


How to apply

You can no longer submit a new application for courses starting in 2024.

If you already have a 2024 application and are in Clearing, you can add this course as a Clearing choice – contact the university or college first to check they have places.

Application codes

Course code:
A104
Institution code:
L14
Campus name:
Main Site
Campus code:
-

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements


Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students
85%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
100%
Go onto work and study

The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

For information on our fees, please see www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding.
Medicine with a Gateway Year at Lancaster University - UCAS