Integration of Knowledge and Clinical Medicine 2

Module overview

The BM4 course in years 1 and 2 is a highly contextualised and integrated course in which the application of knowledge and understanding, clinical skills and professional practice applicable to medicine are learnt through clinical topic weeks, in which students learn in a style similar to problem based learning.

This module focuses on integration of knowledge learned in Foundations, research, evidence based medicine and writing skills and professional/transferable skills of reflection and learning to work independently and as part of a team. The assessment is predominantly assessing this. However it is not a stand alone module and should be recognised by teachers and students alike as part of the whole course, which is achieved by this module, alongside 2 other modules: Foundations of Medicine 2 and Clinical Medicine 2. The emphasis of the assessments for each of these modules aligns with the focus of learning for that module; however the integrated nature of the course means that there will undoubtedly be overlap and aspects of the assessment in each module will draw upon learning from all 3 modules.

The majority of teaching and assessment will take place in semester 1; however some assessments will take place in semester 2.

Further details will be provided on Blackboard.

Syllabus

TOPICS

Your learning will be structured around a series of clinical topic weeks, which will themselves be grouped around physiological systems. The order of clinical topic weeks has been designed to be mostly systems-based whilst also allowing for an integrated and spiral curriculum. During this module you will follow a series of topics related to the nervous system, the musculoskeletal system, the endocrine and the reproductive systems and then finish off with a topic that is specifically chosen to be very integrative in the systems and disciplines involved.

CLINICAL CONTEXT

Weekly clinical topics are used to provide a framework for learning and to provide an example of the medical practice context to which the knowledge and understanding applies.

Examples of the clinical topics for this module are provided below but are subject to change.

1.Arthritis

2.Low Back Pain

3.Cerebrovascular Accidents

4.CNS Injury

5.Chronic Neurological Disorders

6.Ageing and Dementia

7.Depression

8.Endocrine Disorders

9.Reproductive Health

10.Pregnancy

11.Medical Emergencies

For each of these clinical topics detailed learning outcomes are provided to guide you in the biomedical, social, psychological, ethical, legal and population health knowledge and understanding that is applied to each topic. These are available along with resources to support the learning within the Blackboard module pages. Learning in this module focuses on students being able to integrate learning from these outcomes and relate them to specific patient cases.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

This module is a student-led learning module in which students are provided with detailed guidance on the curriculum content to learn; however teaching is limited to graduate group sessions, sessions to support graduate group sessions, plenary sessions and evidence-based medicine sessions.

Graduate Group Sessions: Two graduate group sessions per clinical topic week provide a structured format and facilitated session in which students can use group work to support their learning. The first session uses a trigger to introduce, contextualise and motivate learning from which students work together to identify and share prior knowledge, gaps in knowledge and concepts to develop for the rest of the week. Learning outcomes are provided at the end of the session to support students to facilitate their learning in the appropriate direction during the week but should be used by students alongside their own identified learning outcomes from the graduate group session.

Students will work independently during the week to integrate learning from other modules. In the second graduate group session at the end of the week students organise the session in such a way as to each teach each other key concepts and knowledge in allocated areas of the curriculum. It is expected that the group work will ensure that students will be able to teach topics based on the integrated learning they have done during the week, as well as to be able to give explanations of complex scientific subject matter in lay language.

Sessions to support Graduate Group Sessions: One session is provided during the year to encourage students to reflect upon and enhance their graduate group learning skills including their teamworking skills.

Plenary Sessions: The final session of each clinical topic week is a plenary session during which students have the opportunity to ask an expert in the field for clarification on any of the understanding from the week. The speaker is usually a clinician in the field and so is able to provide reinforcement, understanding and help to clarify any misconceptions about how the knowledge and area from across the disciplines integrates and applies to real life medical practice.

Evidence Based Medicine Sessions: Several sessions are provided during the year to advance and summatively assess students’ skills in critical appraisal and evidence based medicine.

Study time
Type	Hours
Wider reading or practice	54
Completion of assessment task	60
Preparation for scheduled sessions	22
Seminar	37.75
Lecture	13.75
Total study time	187.5

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Personal academic tutor. Students are provided with a personal academic tutor with whom they will be encouraged to reflect upon their learning and studies and can therefore give feedback on reflective skills.

BM4 tutor. Students are provided with an allocated BM4 tutor to support the learning of key subject areas, details can be found within the Blackboard pages. Resources to support students with their reflective skills will be made available on the BM4 webpages

In addition a reading list will be provided on Blackboard. Please see the Blackboard module page for current resources and the full reading list for this module is available on the Library Online Reading List at http://soton.rl.talis.com/

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Patient studies

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: Patient Study & EBM assessment– students will receive written feedback for their essays which will include a breakdown of their mark to include the mark for each criterion and written comments to support the marks and identify areas for improvement in future where possible. Students will also be provided with a box and whisker plot illustrating the spread of marks for the cohort for that assessment and any generic feedback possible about questions that were well answered and areas that were not so well answered. In addition any student failing or close to failing an assessment will be invited to an individual feedback session with a tutor.
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Grad group Assessment

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback:
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Evidence Based Medicine

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: Same as Patient Study assessment
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Patient Study Assignment	50%
Evidence Based Medicine Assessment	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Evidence Based Medicine Assessment	50%
Patient Study Assignment	50%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal