Highlights of GEM at Nottingham
- Achieve your degree in just four years, a year less than the undergraduate course
- Study in our modern, purpose-built Medical School on the Royal Derby Hospital’s site
- Engage in problem-based learning, using clinical scenarios to build your knowledge
- Gain early interaction with patients through regular visits to general practices and hospitals
This four-year graduate entry medicine (GEM) course is open to home and EU applicants who already hold an undergraduate degree in any discipline. It is intended to build on the intellectual skills acquired by students who have undertaken a first degree.
Our curriculum covers basic and clinical sciences, as well as equipping you with all the skills you will need to practise effectively as a doctor.
There are two phases to the course:
The first 18 months
The first 18 months will be spent in Derby at our Medical School. It will be a problem-based learning (PBL) course in which you will work in small groups using case studies to explore clinical scenarios. These will be supported by taught classes – lectures, workshops and clinical skills sessions. Early clinical experience will be provided in clinical settings and personal and professional development will be encouraged.
The course is divided into modules, each of which examines a different system of the body. Working in groups, you will study the underlying science, physiology and wider issues presented by a case study each week.
You will also take part in:
- anatomy workshops – looking at how the body works
- pathology workshops – examining the processes of disease
- clinical skills sessions – introducing all the skills you will need to practise medicine
- GP practice attachments – visiting a practice to see how your learning is applied in a clinical context
There are two types of assessment on this course:
- Formative exams – these are usually taken at the end of each block and do not count towards your final result, but act as a guide to learning.
- Summative exams – these are taken at the end of each term in the form of clinical skills assessment. You will also take exams at the end of year one (July) and the end of the 18 months pre-clinical course (February), which allow you to move on to the next part of the course, provided a satisfactory mark is attained.
Clinical phases
After you have completed your foundation phase, you will combine with students on the five-year medicine course. You will start with a 17-week clinical practice course. This equips you with a core knowledge in the basic aspects of medicine and surgery, and helps you to become familiar with more common and important conditions.
Clinical placements
To give you a breadth of experience during your clinical placements, you may be placed at any of the hospitals or general practices we work with across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
We believe it is essential you gain clinical experience in a range of settings as it prepares you with the transferable skills needed for when you qualify.
It is also helpful to experience working in hospitals of different sizes and in different locations so that you have contact with various patient populations.
Current clinical phase placement locations include:
Nottinghamshire:
- Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham
- City Hospital, Nottingham
- King's Mill Hospital and Millbrook Hospital, Mansfield
Derbyshire:
- Royal Derby Hospital, Derby
- Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Chesterfield
Lincolnshire:
- Lincoln County Hospital, Lincoln
- Grantham Hospital, Grantham
- Pilgrim Hospital, Boston
View a map of the placement locations and read what our students say about their experiences.
You will then enter the final two years of your course. These consist of intensive training across a series of modules, based at major teaching hospitals within the region - Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Mansfield and Lincolnshire.
There are three main forms of teaching:
- Clinical clerkships – rotating through different clinical attachments to gain first-hand experience of all the modules
- Small-group teaching – providing basic instruction on specific topics
- Central teaching – lectures, clinical demonstrations and clinicopathological conferences complementing your practical experience, plus instruction in the legal and ethical aspects of medicine