The year 3 MD program has undergone dramatic change in 2017.
For the first time, students have been allocated longitudinal placements, covering up to 10 - and even 15 - weeks attachment on a unit. Students were divided into different ‘streams’, with focusses on Medicine, Surgery or General Practice.
This new philosophy comes from medical education innovation in Scandinavia and America, and there have been significant teething problems in implementation; as well as ongoing debate as to the usefulness of overall deeper exposure, with the trade-off being a much narrower year 3 experience.
There was accordingly significant alteration to assessment in year 3, as there has been across the course, and all of this chaos in transition has been amplified by the structural university changes, dismantling the medical school and amalgamating it into a broader, more centralised college structure. FMSS has expressed significant concerns about the outcomes of this, and especially the process, and we wait expectantly for the college to come good on its promise to support the essential staff and work of the year 3 transition.
The year 3 program is pioneering for Australia and joins an elite international group using progressive curricula, which nevertheless requires vigilant scrutiny from students and faculty alike as we adapt it to best serve our graduates’ experience and for our future patients.
