Course Details
The MBChB Medicine and Surgery degree equips you with the valuable attributes and attitudes required for modern medical practice and your future clinical career.
The following information describes the current MBChB curriculum. Lancaster Medical School is currently undertaking a comprehensive curriculum review and consequently, there may be changes to the structure of our curriculum that affect applicants for 2025–26 entry. Please check back for updates on this website.
Year 1: Foundation of medicine
Overview
In Year 1, you will be based primarily at the University.
Through 11 two-week PBL modules, you will be introduced to key concepts in biomedical and social science, and learn about normal structure and function of the human body.
You will attend weekly anatomy teaching sessions to explore human anatomy. You will receive a thorough grounding in basic clinical skills (examinations, procedures and techniques) through weekly training sessions in the Clinical Skills Centre and you will undertake extensive communication skills training to prepare you for patient contact in Years 2-5.
Study Module 1 (SSM1)
You will also complete a Study Skills Module that will prepare you for future coursework assignments.
Over the course of four weeks, you will explore subject areas beyond the normal core curriculum, developing key skills in information retrieval, critical appraisal of information sources and report-writing.
You will work closely with academic staff who will guide and support you through SSM1.
Community Clinical Training
In Year 1, you will learn in small group sessions with a GP tutor about the fundamental principles of GP care and how care in the community is delivered. There are also facilitated discussions on real patient consultations.
Each PBL module spans a two week period and a typical timetable for each PBL module looks like this:
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Lecture PBL Self-study |
Lecture CALC Self-study |
Lectures Self-study |
Lecture Clinical Skills Self-study |
Lecture CMP Self-study |
| Week 2 | Lecture PBL Self-study |
Lecture CALC Self-study |
Lectures Self-study |
Lecture Clinical Skills Self-study |
Lecture PBL Self-study |
PBL: Problem Based Learning
CALC: Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre
CMP: Communication for Medical Practice
Year 2: Learning to diagnose and manage illness
Overview
In Year 2, you will be on campus Monday and Friday, and spend two days per week on hospital placement. You will also engage in community-related activities, community clinical teaching (CCT) sessions with GP tutors and two community-related assessments.
There are fifteen PBL modules in Year 2, in which you will begin to think about the body in disease. You will build on the knowledge acquired in Year 1, learning about common disease conditions, their pathology and management (through drugs, surgery and lifestyle interventions).
Special Study Module 2 (SSM2)
In Year 2, you will build on the skills developed during the SSM1.
You will explore a subject area in depth, sourcing and critically appraising relevant information, and presenting your results as a written report.
Many students choose clinical SSM topics in Year 2 and work with a consultant in their chosen field, who provides guidance and support.
Early Clinical Placement
During your hospital placements, you will be involved in various learning activities: taking patient histories; preparing case presentations; engaging in key clinical experiences. Your learning will be guided by the clinical logbook, which sets clear expectations that you must fulfil and functions as a record of your achievement, allowing staff to monitor your progress.
Communication skills sessions take place throughout Year 2, which build on your learning from year one, complementing your increasing clinical experiences on placement.
Typical timetable
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Lectures PBL |
Hospital | Hospital |
Community |
Anatomy Communications skills |
| Week 2 | Lectures PBL |
Hospital | Hospital | Community Self-Study |
PBL |
Year 3: Learning to diagnose and manage illness
Overview
Year 3 comprises five rotations, each of which includes patient contact, clinical teaching, PBL and other teaching activities such as tutorials and lectures:
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Sexual Health
- Paediatrics and Therapeutics
- Managing Long-Term Conditions
- Care of the elderly with Neurology
- Community Mental Health
In PBL, you will start to use real clinical cases, rather than exploring a written scenario. For some of your PBL modules, you will present information from your own patient histories and use this information as the stimulus for developing your learning objectives.
Professional Practice, Values and Ethics Case Analysis
In Year 3, you will complete the PPVE Case Analysis coursework.
You will be give a clinically informed scenario to identify an experience that raises professional, moral or ethical dilemmas for the healthcare professionals involved.
You will then analyse this scenario using an ethical tool such as the Four Principles or Four Quadrant method to frame your discussion, and present your analysis in a written report.
The Case Analysis is designed to develop your decision-making skills, and prepare you for medical practice.
Health, Culture and Society (HCS) Coursework
The HCS coursework will allow you to apply your understanding of various psychological and medical sociology concepts to your experiences on clinical placement. You will be able to choose from a range of topics, for instance medicalisation, patient safety or health inequalities, and then explore why the concept is important, who might benefit from a deeper understanding and how it might influence future medical practice.
Year 4: Learning to diagnose and manage illness
Overview
Year 4 is divided into two long blocks, each of which will include patient contact, hospital-based clinical teaching, weekly primary care teaching, and other learning activities, such as lectures or tutorials.
As in the third year, much of your learning will be based around real clinical cases instead of a written scenario; you will present information from your own patient histories and use this information as the stimulus for developing your learning objectives.
You will spend at least three days per week in a hospital setting. In addition to the two hospital blocks, you will also complete a programme of Primary Care clinical learning.
Block 1:
Acute Adult Care
This block will build on your clinical experience in Year 2, and further develop your understanding of general medicine and general surgery. The block comprises four clinical placements as follows:
- Acute Medicine, including a variety of medical specialties
- Palliative care
- Acute surgery, including a variety of surgical specialties
- Peri-operative care
Block 2:
The Specialties
This block will build on your experiences in Year 3, and further develop your knowledge and understanding of the specialties. The block comprises three clinical placements as follows:
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Psychiatry
- Paediatrics
Primary Care Clinical Learning:
During both clinical blocks, you will receive weekly full-day small group teaching in Primary Care with experienced GP tutors to help equip you with generalist skills that will benefit you throughout your chosen medical career whatever your preferred specialty.
Final exams
You will sit your final examinations at the end of Year 4, allowing you to focus on preparation for clinical practice in the apprenticeship-style Year 5.
Elective
After completing your final examinations at the end of year four, you will spend four weeks on your Elective placement. You will arrange and fund your Elective yourself, with advice and guidance from Lancaster Medical School. Your Elective is an opportunity to broaden your clinical experience and participate in healthcare delivery in a different setting.
You may choose to spend your Elective in another country, learning how different cultural, social and environmental factors influence healthcare delivery outside the UK. Alternatively, you may choose to spend your Elective in the UK, to explore a particular speciality in more depth, for instance working within a tertiary care centre.
Intercalated degree
Between Years 4 and 5 of the MBChB programme, you will have the option to take a year out from your studies to complete an intercalated degree. Intercalation provides you with an opportunity to study a subject related to medicine at greater depth or engage in academic research for a year.
If you decide to complete an intercalated degree, you will suspend studies on the MBChB programme for a period of twelve months whilst you undertake studies for a BSc, an MSc, an MRes or an MPhil degree. You will then return to the MBChB programme at the beginning of Year 5.
Year 5: Apprenticeship-style, intensive clinical experience
Clinical attachments
In Year 5, you will undertake five clinical attachments, two of which are Selectives in Advanced Medical Practice (SAMPs):
- Emergency Medicine
- Primary Care
- SAMP 1
- SAMP 2
- WARD Placement (where you will have the opportunity to shadow an FY1 Doctor)
You can choose to follow SAMPs in a wide variety of different clinical specialties, providing the opportunity to explore different potential medical careers during the course of your undergraduate degree.
Each attachment consists of seven weeks of intensive clinical experience. A portfolio is used to guide and assess your learning. You will take responsibility for your own learning and engage in reflective practice to prepare you for Foundation training and life-long learning.
How we teach
Watch our short introductions to Problem Based Learning, Clinical Skills and Clinical Anatomy teaching to get a feel for what studying at Lancaster Medical School is like.
An introduction to Problem Based Learning (PBL)
Problem Based Learning is one of the key ways we teach at Lancaster Medical School. And because it's not a style of learning that most students will have encountered before, there is understandably some concern about whether it is 'right' for them. In this short video, Dr Dawn Goodwin, current Director of Problem Based Learning at Lancaster Medical School, explains why we do it, what it consists of, and addresses the key concerns and worries that students have before they come to Lancaster.
An introduction to Clinical Anatomy teaching
Clinical Anatomy is one of the core areas of teaching during your medical degree. In this short film, Dr Rebecca Shepherd explains how we approach anatomy teaching at Lancaster University. She covers our use of modern technology and why we don't do cadaveric dissection.
An introduction to Clinical Skills teaching
Clinical Skills is a key component of medical education. At Lancaster we use a variety of modern technologies to teach our students in the Clinical Skills lab, in order to prepare them for time on placement, where they will be able to use and embed what they have covered in the lab. Our aim with Clinical Skills is to make sure that our students learn in a safe and supportive environment, and to make sure that when they graduate, they are prepared for day one as an FY1.
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