Undergrads to get hands on experience

Medical students will have a chance to gain more hands on experience before they graduate, the General Medical Council has announced.

Medical schools and the NHS will have to work together to organise “student assistantships” under the new Tomorrow’s Doctors training guidance. These will take place shortly before students graduate and begin their foundation year 1 placements.

Medical schools will also need to teach specified “hard science” subjects—such as anatomy, genetics, and molecular biology—and ensure students are competent in a number of clinical procedures before graduation. The standardised list of procedures will include administering an anaesthetic.

“New medical graduates must be scholars and scientists, practitioners and professionals,” said GMC council member and chair of the undergraduate board Jim McKillop. “Tomorrow’s Doctors 2009 ensures medical schools will achieve the balance between teaching students the building blocks of medical science while ensuring they know how to communicate with patients and master basic clinical procedures.

“Basic medical knowledge and skills, although fundamentally important, are no good in isolation. The best doctors are continually updating their knowledge, they are prepared to ask for help, and they can communicate complex, life changing decisions to patients, who can often be vulnerable and scared. It is impossible to prepare students for every eventuality in their career, but it is possible to lay strong foundations to help today’s medical students become tomorrow’s doctors.”