Medicine BMedSci and BMBS

This module will help you develop your prescribing skills and understanding of therapeutics and treating infections to prepare you for the Clinical Phase.

This module covers the aspects of primary care for young patients.

The aim of this module is to introduce the concept of evidence based medicine and review in depth many of the research methodologies, which underpin this. This will include ethical issues in animal and human research studies.

During the evidence based medicine course students will be building on previous learning and acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes that link to aspects of the Outcomes for Graduate specified by the GMC. They will learn about the design of biomedical studies of various kinds, and the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, how to search for scientific information and how to critique biomedical studies and research papers. They will develop an understanding of the ethical considerations in medical research and the principles of academic integrity.
Students will attend lectures and will be required to engage in private study, including the reading of scientific research papers.

It will be essential to demonstrate appropriate professional attitudes and behaviour.

This module forms the placement part of your third year. You'll complete five placements, each six weeks long and will cover: medicine; surgery; speciality skills; mental health; and community-based medicine.

After you have completed the individual placement, there will be a revision week followed by a summative assessment period. Following this, you'll then have a twelve-week block involving a two-week junior assistantship and ten weeks of Student Selected Modules (SSMs).

In your chosen area for your research, you’ll spend year three working on your Honours Year project in which you will carry out your project to test the hypothesis formulated in the research methods module. The form of the project can vary and may be based on laboratory work, audit, patient studies or an extended literature review with proof of critical engagement. A submission of around 10,000 words is expected as your project write-up. A range of optional modules related to Research Project are shown below. 

This module focuses on how cancer therapies have developed in recent years, and how the long-term cardiovascular effects of these treatments in cancer survivors should be considered.

Six lectures will cover: an introduction to cancer therapy, the role of VEGF in tumour angiogenesis, anti-VEGF cancer therapies, cardiovascular consequences of anti-cancer treatment, the role of alternative splicing and molecular targeting in cancer and future strategies for cancer therapy.

This module provides a clinical overview of cancer including:

• the molecular biology of cancer
• cancer angiogenesis
• pre-clinical modelling of cancer
• clinical trials and adjuvant treatments in cancer
• breast cancer: biology and treatment
• new biological treatments for cancer.

This module aims to facilitate:

• an understanding of the major class of receptors in man, GPCRs, and their varied roles as drug targets
• awareness of the range of genetic polymorphisms in GPCRs and associated proteins linked with disease and drug action, backed by specific examples
• and critical evaluation of the ability to target such polymorphic variants therapeutically to deliver future medical advances.

This will predominantly be within the home base and there is a requirement for students to carry out significant private study including reading advanced texts, review articles and research papers on specialist medical science topics.It will be essential to demonstrate appropriate professional attitudes and behaviour.

Gain a strong understanding of what makes a good clinical research publication.

You'll be taught how to critically appraise clinical research (including performing your own critical appraisal) and what to consider when writing an abstract (and assessed by writing your own abstract for a piece of clinical research). You'll also be directed on how to search for published research for practice and research purposes. 

You will be build on previous learning and acquiring knowledge to extend and deepen your understanding of molecular and cellular aspects of innate immunity and gain knowledge and understanding of the mechanistic basis of inflammatory diseases.

This will also enable you to appreciate the development of novel forms of therapy for inflammatory diseases.

This module uses colorectal cancer as a paradigm of neoplastic disease and covers the molecular basis of cancer, the clinicopathological manifestation of disease and translational research.

This module considers:

• the epidemiology of harm in healthcare
• theories of what safety means in healthcare
• models of how errors and harm occur
• the role of investigation in reducing harm
• the evidence for safety initiatives
• the role of human factors in delivering safe healthcare

The course focuses on the clinical knowledge and basic research approaches to investigate:

• Asthma
• Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease
• Interstitial Lung Disease
• Lung cancer and infection.

This is a group project-based module, which will see you and a small group of other medical students tackle a common clinical presentation. You'll work together to present symptom presentation, further clinical investigations, diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the module is to build your clinical reasoning skills.

The module will explore theoretical, research and clinical approaches to the understanding of theaetiology and treatment of common mental illness/disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. It will draw upon international as well as local research in these fields at the University of Nottingham.

You'll gain knowledge and understanding of the following in common mental health:

• Models and approaches that are being used to understand how mental health problems are caused and/or maintained and how they can be treated
• Link between brain and cognitive function and underlying psychological and/or clinical problems.Methods used in research and clinical practice to study and/or manage the psychopathology of mental illness.

The module 'Quantitative and Qualitative Methods for Mental Health Research' is designed so that students can acquire the concepts, skills and knowledge required to conduct and evaluate both qualitative and quantitative research in mental health and explore concepts and principles of psychiatry and applied psychology to enhance their evidence-based practice.

This module is intended to prepare students for interpreting the literature they will read as practising physicians.

This involves teaching them critical thinking skills and includes examination of three medical topics covered by the assigned papers.

These will include the following study designs:

• case control studies
• randomised controlled trials
• cross-sectional population surveys
• cohort studies

Important issues in epidemiological research such as ethics and clinical constraints, case definition, research methods, power, bias and confounding and strength of evidence will be discussed, as relevant, for each paper.

Systematic reviews and national clinical guidelines will also be studied to understand the process of how these contribute to evidence based medicine. This will provide understanding of how individual research studies are brought together, evaluated for their quality. and combined to provide the recommendations and guidance that is used by healthcare professionals in practice.

The module includes the following topics:

• Basic surgical microbiology revision
• Operating theatre rituals and their scientific basis (if any)
• Surgical aspects of various surgeries, for example: vascular graft surgery, orthopaedic surgery,neurosurgery, and gastro – intestinal surgery, with emphasis on infection prevention
• Scientific, pathological and microbiological aspects of the above. Identification and discussion of period of risk (different in each) and logistic/patient risk factors
• Prevention of surgical infection: identification of the problem and practical solutions. Relative contributions of hospital vs community pathogens, and of theatre vs ward sources.
• Treatment of surgical infection: therapeutic choices and their pharmacokinetic aspects

This module will provide you with a conceptual framework relevant to embryonic, foetal, neonatal, childhood and adolescent growth and development. You’ll be introduced to the pervasive concept of human development as a programmed evolution in structure and function of the brain.

You’ll explore the need for development in human neuroscience with reference to brain embryology; pre-term birth, brain tumours; and epilepsies, and other current clinical research areas, from new-borns to teenagers.

The module will cover the following topics:

• Introduction to neuroglia cells including historical perspectives and description of roles of neuroglia (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia) in CNS physiology
• The role and potentialuse as clinical targets of neuroglial cells in the following conditions will be described: insulininduced hypoglycaemia, demyelinating diseases, brain tumours, epilepsy and CNS regeneration

This module will provide an overview of normal haematopoiesis and current concepts in normal and cancer haematopoietic stem cell biology.

It will also:

• enable students to develop an appreciation of the causes, pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of haematological malignancies
• provide an insight into the laboratory tests important in the diagnosis, stratification and prognosis of specific malignant haematological conditions
• provide an overview of the diagnosis, treatment and management of haematological malignancies
• develop an appreciation of the rationale behind the national leukaemia trails
• give students an overview of the principles of stem cell transplantation
• demonstrate the new research findings (drugs, mutations, biomarkers etc) in malignant haematology which are improving management and outcome of patients and allowing the advancement of targeted therapy.

Kidney disease is relatively common and its incidence is increasing because of the ageing population and increases in the incidence of obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

This module focuses on the pathology and treatment of kidney diseases. This will predominantly be within an overview of renal structure and function, the clinical features of, and diagnostic tools used in, kidney disease, the pathology,assessment and management of kidney diseases such as glomerular disease,vascular disease, nephrotic syndrome, and chronic kidney disease.