Clinical placements play a vital role in preparing medical students for practice. It’s important they’re planned to maximise the learning potential, that patient and student safety are prioritised, and students are integrated and valued members of the clinical team.
Our guidance for educators provides advice on meeting our standards. We also have a student guide, to help them make the most of their time on placement.
This guidance aims to support medical schools and placement providers to deliver undergraduate clinical placements. Medical students can use it to understand what to expect from their placements.
This guide for medical students covers what to expect from your clinical placements, what is expected of you, and how to raise concerns.
These case studies highlight areas of good and innovative practice at a variety of clinical placement settings. If you have any questions or would like to know more about the case studies, please contact quality@gmc-uk.org.
How Cardiff University, School of Medicine has developed this year-long longitudinal integrated clerkship, the first in Wales.
How the University of Liverpool has worked with a network of hospices across the Mersey region to provide medical students with palliative care placements.
How Warwick Medical School has organised an extensive programme of GP placements for their graduate-entry medicine programme with four different GP surgeries.
How the University of Manchester has developed a clinical placement for final year medical students with intended learning objectives focused on population health.
How Queen Mary University of London has developed an ophthalmology clinical placement at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
How Bristol Medical School has developed a range of primary care placements across all five years of the medical programme.
How St Andrews School of Medicine has developed a placement at Glenrothes Community Hospital which medical students attend alongside nursing students from the University of Dundee.
We work with doctors, physician associates, anaesthesia associates, those they care for and other stakeholders to support good, safe patient care across the UK.
