Overview
HYMS 5 year course starts with 2 years of academic teaching (integrated with patient contact and clinical skills) followed by 3 years of clinical training.
HYMS is one of the new medical schools, now in it's 3rd year in the 2005/6 academic year. It is spread across two campuses - York and Hull. It is entirely random which one you end up at - and each have their own pros and cons. Lectures are video linked, so that if you are in Hull and the lecture is in York, you'll see them and their slides on 2 big screens in your regular lecture theatre. This works suprisingly well. In the clinical years you could be located anywhere in Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire. If you are not within commutable distance of your "home campus", you will be placed in NHS accommodation for free. Average week
The HYMS week starts on Thursdays (in year 1) at 9:15am, with 2 lectures, a PBL session and a clinical skills session, ending at 5:30 (Biopracticals, when we have them, occur after the lectures). Fridays are an easy day with only 2 lectures, starting at 10:15am. Forget your weekend - you'll be working the WHOLE weekend. Mondays start at 10:15 with a single lecture, followed by the resource session. The afternoon consists of the second PBL session and clinical skills, finishing at 5:30. Tuesdays often have an empty morning, but there are also workshops. The afternoons are clinical placement. Wednesday mornings are for Student Selected Components (SSCs), with afternoons off for sports. How the course is taught (years 1&2)
HYMS uses a combination of problem based learning and lecture-style teaching. Each week is centred around a particular condition and the topics are grouped together in systems of the body. For example, students learn about the respiratory system in their first semester and have a week on asthma, a week on tuberculosis, one on lung cancer and another on respiratory failure etc. In this way, you learn about the anatomy of the lungs and the physiology of respiration alongside clinical conditions, applying what you learn to diagnosing and treating respiratory
diseases. Each week students are given a set of 'learning outcomes', which act as a guide to what they need to understand by the end of the week. Learning outcomes cover all aspects of the clinical topic, from describing the epidemiology of a disease, to how a condition may affect a person's life, what the symptoms are and how to treat the condition. At the same time, the learning outcomes cover aspects of normal anatomy, physiology and cell biology that are relevant to the condition. The HYMS week for first years starts on a Thursday, with the first PBL session where the learning outcomes are decided. You then have the weekend to learn the learning outcomes, and present them back to the rest of the group on Monday afternoon. You'll be in a group of 8 or 9, with a doctor acting as a "facilitator" who really only makes sure that you
are heading in the right direction. Unlike other PBL courses - each student learns each learning outcome and goes to each lecture (aka plenary) themselves - you are not reliant on other people's efforts. You also have "resource sessions" where you are presented with a series of quizzes, questions, scenarios, tasks (some on CD, x-rays, paper,
wall charts etc) which aim to help to re-inforce what you have learnt in the week. Then on a Monday morning, you can finalise this in the session
with the tutors, where they also have anatomy labs, so you can actually see the anatomy you've been doing that week. Patient contact and clinical skills (years 1&2)
Patient contact and clinical teaching begins from the second week of the course. Clinical teaching occurs at the local hospital and at GP practices in the area. In year 1 students spend half a day one week at the
hospital and half a day the next week at a GP surgery. You are in a group of 4 students, with 1 doctor. In year 2 this increases to 1 full day
a week. Clinical skills sessions occur once or twice a week (depending on the timetable), where there is either 4 or 8 of you with a doctor. The majority of sessions involve either healthy volunteers (for practising
examination techniques) or actors (for practising consultation skills). When you are interviewing an actor, you are being filmed and this is being
recorded onto a DVD that you are given at the start of the year - as your record of your progress. You are also being observed via a big projected TV screen in an adjacent room by the other members of your clinical skills group, and the doctor. After the session you sit with them and they all give you constructive feedback. The actor also gives feedback, both in and out of role. Don't think that you can mess around with the actors - they are very good, they even cry - real tears! Assessment (years 1&2)
The first two years are assessed mainly by exams at the end of the year. Students also need to complete their SSCs for each term. Formative exams in the first 2 terms don't count for anything, and are there to give students an indication of how they are doing. The area and the university
York is a relatively small city and those used to more vibrant cities such as London etc may find the pace of life a little slow. The uni is also relatively small. It is a beautiful city and campus - with a generally upbeat, pleasent 'vibe'. Hull is a larger city, but less 'pleasant', however, they have a very good students union and some very cheap beer. Summary (years 1&2)
HYMS is making me into the kind of doctor I want to be. They emphasis communication skills and empathy etc. The staff pretty cool, the vast majority being very friendly and approachable - this includes the clinicians you meet on placement. The majority of us here are very happy and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. PBL has it's own challenges, but they are dealt with pretty well here. You are given a handbook for each block telling you what you need to know for every single lecture and resource session. It is all well documented and laid out, there is no shortage of information. The support staff are also helpful - they clearly enjoy their contact with the students, who aren't as arrogant as the average medical student.
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