University of Warwick - Medicine

Highlights

• Duration of the degree is 4 years
• UCAT SJT is not used
• Close to 80^th percentile median UCAT for those received offers

Academic Requirements

• 2:1 (B average or above) or 2:2 + Masters or PhD
• 2 placements in last three years with total of 70 hours
• Must achieve at least 50^th percentile of UCAT Verbal

English Language Proficiency

• IELTS 7.0 and component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

a. Where is it going to take place?

The clinical placement will take place in the following hospital sites and approximately 80 GP practices in the Coventry and Warwickshire area:

• Hospital of St Cross, Rugby
• University Hospital, Coventry
• George Eliot Hospital
• Warwick Hospital
• Alexandra Hospital, Redditch

b. What is University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) like?

• UHCW serves a population of over a million people and provides more than 800,000 episodes of care to patients from across Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond every year.
• UHCW was the first in the UK to use the revolutionary AURA 10 mobile PET-CT image in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
• UHCW also took a leading approach to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which world-leading experts recognised as having a significant and trailblazing impact.

c. How is clinical placement going to be for the students?

The clinical placement will take place from Year 2 to Year 4 with its own focus as below:

• Year 2
  • General Practices Placement
• Year 3 – Year 4
  • Eight Specialist Clinical Placements:
    • Care of the Medical Patient
    • Care of the Surgical Patient
    • Acute Medicine
    • Psychiatry, Child Health
    • Musculoskeletal Healthcare
    • Obstetrics
    • Gynaecology
    • General Practice
  • Each placement lasts six weeks and scheduling varies by student group. The students will have six Specialist Clinical Placements in Year 3 and the remaining two in Year 4.

d. What is the course structure?

The 4-year course comprises of the following:

• Phase 1 (Year 1)
  • Biomedical science, social science, population health principles, method and knowledge
  • Integrated clinical exposure in various settings
• Phase 2 (Year 2)
  • Introduction to the principles of clinical practice
  • General Practices Placement
• Phase 3 (Year 3- Year 4)
  • Specialist clinical blocks
  • Preparation for practice as a Foundation Doctor

e. What is the teaching style in University of Warwick?

Throughout the 4-year of the programme, Case-based Learning is at the core of the course curriculum and it is a learner-centred approach of teaching and learning.

The following teaching methods are adopted in the course:

• Case-based Learning
• Lectures
• Small Group Sessions
• Experiential Learning
• Clinical Skills
• Clinical Placement
• E-learning

The interview will take the format of six Multiple Mini Interview stations (MMIs) and the whole process will take around two hours. The interviewees will be observed and scored on each station by trained assessors from a range of backgrounds including medical professionals, academics, current students and lay people with an interest in medical education.

• Team working
• Insight
• Resilience
• Communication
• Empathy
• Probity
• Respect and dignity

Some TED talks including “the danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “10 ways to have a better conversation” by Celeste Headlee and “5 ways to listen better” by Julian Treasure are recommended for the interviewees to reflect on the what good communication is.

The reflection can be referred to “The Reflective Practitioner” by the General Medical Council and “Academy and COPMeD Reflective Practice Toolkit” by Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

• Motivation

1. Why do you want to study medicine?
2. Why Warwick Medical School and its graduate-entry MBChB?
3. What do you know about Warwick’s integrated, case-based curriculum and early patient exposure?
4. What do you think are the most rewarding and challenging aspects of being a doctor?
5. How do you plan to contribute to the Warwick Medical School community?
6. What excites you most about studying medicine at a graduate-entry medical school like Warwick?
7. How do your prior academic and professional experiences prepare you for the demands of medical school?
8. What is your understanding of the challenges faced by graduate-entry medical students?
9. How will you balance your academic workload with maintaining your well-being?
10. What personal qualities make you well-suited for a career in medicine?
11. Why should we choose you?
12. What do you like most about yourself, and what would you like to improve?

• Team Working

1. Describe a time when you worked as part of a team to achieve a goal. What was your role, and what was the outcome?
2. How do you handle conflicts within a team?
3. Give an example of a time when you had to work with a difficult team member. How did you handle the situation?
4. How do you ensure effective communication within a team?
5. What strategies do you use to build trust and rapport within a team?
6. Can you provide an example of when you showed leadership skills?
7. How would you manage differing opinions within a team to ensure the best patient outcome?
8. What role does effective communication play in healthcare teamwork?
9. Do you work better in a team or alone? How do you adapt when you have to work in a team?

• Insight

1. What have you learned from your work experience that has prepared you for a career in medicine?
2. Discuss a medical news article or recent development that interested you and explain why.
3. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the NHS today?
4. How do you plan to manage the demands and stresses of a medical career?
5. Recently Austria followed other European countries like Switzerland and Belgium and legalised physician-assisted suicide. Do you think the UK should embrace a similar policy and make physician-assisted suicide legal?
6. Imagine you are the head of the surgical department in a hospital. There are two patients, A and B, both requiring an urgent liver transplant, but there is only one viable liver. Patient A is a 32-year old social activist, with a drug abuse history. Patient B is a 78-year old woman, who takes care of 3 children, whose parents died in a car accident. How would you allocate the liver and why?
7. A 12-year old boy is rushed into A&E after a car crash. The patient is unconscious and has sustained huge blood loss due to the accident. Together with your team, you decide the boy requires an urgent blood transfusion. As you are about to take the boy into the OR, his parents arrive and forbid you to carry on with the blood transfusion on religious grounds. How would you proceed, and what factors should you consider?

• Resilience

1. Describe a time when you faced a significant setback. How did you handle it?
2. How do you cope with stress and maintain a healthy work-life balance?
3. Give an example of a challenging situation you encountered during your studies or work experience and how you overcame it.
4. What strategies do you use to stay motivated during difficult times?

• Communication

1. Describe a situation where you had to communicate complex information to someone who had no prior knowledge of the subject.
2. How do you ensure you are listening effectively to patients and colleagues?
3. Give an example of a time when your communication skills made a difference in a challenging situation.
4. How would you explain a medical procedure to a patient who is very anxious?
5. How do you deal with criticism? What role does criticism have in medicine?
6. Tell us about a situation that developed your communication skills.
7. You are a fresh FY1, 2-weeks into your oncology. You are responsible for a 12-year old patient, who is suspected to have leukaemia. The patient's father, who is visibly anxious and stressed, stops you in the hospital hallway to ask you if the boy's results are available already. They say they are tired of the waiting and uncertainty. At this point, you realise you forgot to bring the blood sample to the lab and need to take the bloods again. Explain your mistake to the patient's father.

• Empathy

1. Describe a situation where you had to show empathy to a patient or colleague.
2. How do you balance empathy with the need to remain objective and professional?
3. Can you give an example of a time when you had to support someone going through a difficult experience?
4. How do you approach understanding the feelings and perspectives of patients from different backgrounds?

• Probity

1. What does honesty and integrity mean to you in the context of medicine?
2. Describe a time when you had to make a difficult ethical decision.
3. How would you handle a situation where you witnessed a colleague behaving unethically?
4. What steps would you take if you realized you had made a mistake in patient care?
5. How would you handle a situation where a patient refuses a life-saving treatment due to cultural beliefs?
6. What ethical considerations arise when using AI technologies in diagnosis and treatment?
7. How should doctors navigate ethical dilemmas involving organ donation prioritization?
8. What are your thoughts on the ethical challenges of assisted dying?
9. How would you balance patient autonomy with the duty to protect their well-being?
10. How should healthcare professionals approach situations involving conflicts of interest?
11. Tell us about a recent mistake you made and how you dealt with it.
12. You were supposed to take care of your friend's cat, while they were on holiday. A few hours before your friend was meant to come back, you realised you forgot to close the front door and the cat went missing. You tried looking around the house but to no avail. Your friend, Max (the interviewer), just arrived home. Break the news to them.

• Respect and dignity

1. How do you ensure you treat all patients with respect and dignity, regardless of their background or circumstances?
2. Can you give an example of a time when you advocated for a patient's dignity and respect?
3. How do you handle situations where a patient's values or beliefs conflict with your own?
4. What strategies do you use to promote a respectful and inclusive environment in a healthcare setting?