Professor Neil Kennedy, Centre Director for the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences provided an excellent overview of the new curriculum. You can view it at the link below

Why change ?
Our population is getting older; multi-morbidity and complexity are the norm. As a result the Healthcare system in Northern Ireland is changing. The focus locally and internationally is on prevention and population health, on new ways of doing things, of new partnerships between primary and secondary care. We need to keep our curriculum ‘fit for purpose’; to train the next generation of doctors to be leaders and effectors of this change.

Many people have been asking what are the key components of the new curriculum for Queen’s University medical students starting in Autumn 2020? They are summarised below

1.Four themes are represented in every module – the DNA of the new curriculum.

2.Integrated, systems-based teaching in years 1+2. Biomedical, public health and clinical science will be integrated. Early clinical contact and cadaveric dissection is retained

3. Case based learning year in years 1-4 is the ‘glue’ that binds the teachingtogether; 75 key cases that further integrate the learning

4.Longitudinal clerkships in year 3 and 4:
Year 3: two fourteen week clerkships in the Belfast, and one other trust hospital.
Year 4: integrated primary and secondary care teaching across the life cycle of child health, women’s health, ageing and mental health.

5.More time in general practice: 25% of the clinical placement will be in primary care.

6.Student selected components in every year, including a new one-year long quality improvement project in year 4

7.Assessment by Progress testing – integrated assessment ‘for’ learning.

There are exciting times ahead and general practice will be taking a leading role in educating the next generation of doctors.