MBBS course outline

The curriculum is designed as an integrated structure incorporating four themes, within which semester long units are taught by staff from a range of departments across the faculty, in an interdisciplinary fashion.

During the early years of the course, the basic medical and behavioural sciences (anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, psychology and sociology) are introduced within inter-disciplinary units. In all of these units, there will be a major focus on clinical issues through clinical case studies.

In second year, the students will also participate in community based practice placements where they spend time working in a community setting with clients of welfare agencies. In the third year, the students will study integrated medicine and surgery, which will be taught together with a series of problem based and case-based learning sessions.

The fourth year will be largely taken up with core clinical rotations in women’s and children’s health and general practice and psychological medicine.

The fifth year of the course will be structured as a series of rotations, selected from a broad range where students will choose to complete their degree by gaining wider experience in chosen disciplines and specific areas of interest through a range of metropolitan, rural and overseas settings.

Patient Centred Learning (PCL)

A key integrating feature of the early years of the medicine course at Monash University is the case-based teaching, known as Patient Centred Learning (PCL). The PCLs provide a context for the course objectives and content, creating for students an awareness of the relevance to medicine and medical practice of the curriculum and its components.

Students are encouraged to discuss the situation presented in the case narrative, identifying scientific and/or clinical detail that may be relevant to both the case and to the week’s curriculum content.