Curriculum

Themes

The program of study will be underpinned by four themes. The proportion of the program time devoted to each theme will vary throughout the program, but overall the following proportions will (roughly) be devoted to each theme:

Theme 1: Medical Sciences 45%
Theme 2: Clinical Skills 30%
Theme 3: Population Health 15%
Theme 4: Professionalism and Leadership 10%.

These themes form the framework around which the course is built. They allow substantially more flexibility and much greater integration of material than traditional disciplines or subjects. They shift the balance of power from discipline departments to the whole faculty with regard to influence on the course.

The Medical Sciences theme covers a vast scope of biomedical science that is ever changing and expanding. Treating this as a theme enables a focus on core, up to date knowledge and recognises that not all knowledge in each medical discipline can be taught. Rather the course provides students with a scaffold on which they can build both during the course and in a lifelong manner.

Similarly, Population Health is ever changing with the relationship between humans, their society and environment taking on different perspectives as populations age and emigrate, but more particularly expand and place increasing pressure on the environment.

The Clinical Skills theme recognises the importance of training doctors in the craft of medicine. It is not enough to assume that the acquisition of knowledge will be accompanied by communication skills and the ability to examine patients, perform simple procedures on patients, and critically appraise information. These skills must be systematically taught to a certain predefined competence. Evidence based practice has been placed within this theme to emphasise that its application is regarded as a core clinical skill.

Finally, Professionalism and Leadership is vital in the education of a good doctor. It cannot just be presumed to happen and its recognition as a theme gives weight to the importance that is placed upon it.

Frameworks

All four themes are influenced and integrated by three important frameworks:

Framework 1: Rural experience
Framework 2: Sound foundations of medicine
Framework 3: Indigenous health

Three frameworks provide the essential supporting structure for the four themes and interpenetrate the entire Medical Program.

Social Foundations of Medicine Framework

Teaching in the social foundations of medicine addresses the social and cultural foundations of health sickness and healing. The overall aim is to enhance understanding of major conceptual issues in the study of medical knowledge and practice, and the nature of medical systems.

The material in the Social Foundations of Medicine (SFM) lectures supports and transects the four main themes in the curriculum. Each lecture engages with clinical material in the week’s PBL, and is integrated with aspects of the weeks teaching in Clinical Skills, Professionalism and Leadership, Medical Science, and Population Health. Foundation concepts are covered in the Foundation Block. In the second and third blocks, more detailed attention is paid to particular cases drawing on discipline-specific material for each block.

Rural Experience Framework

The Rural Experience framework introduces medical students to quality rural medicine. Through immersion in rural settings and lifestyles, students are exposed to delivery of best practice rural medical education.

All Australian domestic students spend a minimum of eight weeks during their 4-year medical program based in a rural location. This consists of residential weeks in year 1 and year 2 and six weeks in year 3 of the course. In the year 2 the rural week has an indigenous health focus.

The remaining six weeks of rural exposure occurs in year 3 during the ten week community/general practice term. During this six week period students will be spread throughout the area covered by ANU Medical School’s South East NSW Clinical School.

A select group of rural stream students spend their entire year 3 in a rural community. The rural stream students relocate themselves and their families to the rural town and are encouraged to become an active member of their local community. They learn in a longitudinal fashion throughout the year rather than by sequential discipline based rotating terms. By the completion of year 3, rural stream students cover the same topics of basic medicine, surgery, paediatrics and community medicine/general practice. All students, rural and urban complete the same assessment at the end of the year.

Indigenous Health Framework

The Indigenous Health Framework develops a deeper experience and understanding of Indigenous health which will ultimately contribute to a wider world view for future doctors and better health outcomes for Indigenous Australians. The universities Indigenous Health framework acknowledges the fact that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are as diverse in history, culture, and socioeconomic factors as they are in location. This diversity allows for Indigenous Health issues to be integrated into the curriculum in the broadest way, through a variety of PBL cases and lectures, in both rural and urban settings.

The Indigenous Health framework encourages students to consider that current health outcomes for Australian First Peoples are the result of inter-related historical, environmental, political, behavioural, cultural and physiological elements. In considering this complex context with regards to Indigenous health, students also consider by default how these contexts may affect the health care of any population. In addition, the concepts of community health and community frameworks can be extrapolated from Indigenous Health to the community at large. The Indigenous Health framework is designed to give students the knowledge, attitudes, and cultural competence that will allow them to enter into true health partnerships with Indigenous communities in their futures as health practitioners.