Curriculum

MEDD 411 - Foundations of Medical Practice

This 17-week course is delivered in the first term of Winter Session in Year 1. It begins by orienting students to the UBC Faculty of Medicine Medical Undergraduate Program (MDUP) and sets the expectations of the medical profession. It includes a brief review of basic principles of human biology and introduces the CanMEDS competency domains. In addition, the course introduces students to the importance of collaborative, interprofessional education and practice. It also introduces students to various areas of knowledge, skills, and concepts that will support their undergraduate medical education at UBC. In addition, students will start their first small group case-based learning tutorials. Students will also be introduced to assessment methods used in the program.

The educational goals of each individual week are anchored by specific clinical presentations, which are explored through case-based presentations in small group sessions, lectures, labs, self-directed learning activities, and clinical experiences (both simulated and real).

This course supports an introductory-level understanding of core medical concepts and skills. This core knowledge will prepare students to approach clinical presentations with increased depth and complexity expected in subsequent courses including MEDD 412 and MEDD 421, and MEDD 422.

Site Orientation

This week orients the students to site-specific program facilities, staff, and services. Students will also address site-specific administrative requirements including photographs and identification badges. In addition, this week includes curricular sessions in preparation for MEDD 412 and programmatic assessment.

MEDD 412 - Foundations of Medical Practice II

This 14-week course is delivered in the second term of Winter Session in Year 1. As in MEDD 411, the educational goals of each individual week are anchored by specific clinical presentations, which are explored through case-based presentations in small group sessions, lectures, labs, self-directed learning activities, and clinical experiences (both simulated and real).

Building on the competencies developed in MEDD 410 and MEDD 411, this course continues to enhance student understanding of core medical concepts and skills. This core knowledge will prepare students to approach clinical presentations with increased depth and complexity expected in subsequent courses including MEDD 421 and MEDD 422.

MEDD 419 - Foundations of Scholarship and Flexible Enhanced Learning

The introduction of flexible and enhanced learning within the medical curriculum offers a unique opportunity for medical students to pursue a variety of learning experiences and scholarly activities within a flexible learning space. This course is a required component of the core curriculum that spans the first year of the medical program.

It emphasizes the importance of a broad understanding of scholarship, engagement, and social accountability by allowing students to undertake individualized directed studies options through various learning activities. It also prepares students for scholarly work through a Foundations of Scholarship component. Flexible Enhanced Learning (FLEX) coursework and self-directed activities enable students to gain an understanding and participate in scholarly inquiry and scholarship to accommodate a diversity of learning styles and needs.

The goals of this course are to foster innovation, creativity, and critical thought in the context of social responsibility and accountability, and to prepare graduates for roles as scholars, life-long learners, and leaders throughout their medical careers.

MEDD 421 - Foundations of Medical Practice III

This course involves increasingly complex clinical presentations integrating foundational sciences and clinical practice themes. It includes a developmental, case-based approach to fostering the development of evidence-based clinical reasoning and clinical skills.

MEDD 422 - Transition into Clinical Education

This course prepares students to transition from classroom-based to clinical learning environments. It involves increasingly complex clinical presentations integrating foundational sciences and clinical practice themes. It prepares students for clinical practice in Year 3 Clerkship.

MEDD 429 - Flexible Enhanced Learning II

This course is an opportunity to build on scholarly activities initiated in MEDD 419, or to start new ones. It emphasizes social accountability and fosters innovation, creativity, and critical thought to prepare graduates for roles as scholars, life-long learners, and leaders.

MEDD 431 - Clerkship

This 48-week course provides students with core experiences across the breadth of medicine through both clinical and academic learning opportunities. Students will interact with patients under the supervision of faculty members in order to develop a solid foundation of knowledge, skills, and behaviours described by the UBC exit competencies. Clinical activities will occur in ambulatory, hospital-based settings and in rural and remote rural locations. Patient care opportunities are varied and are influenced by the strengths of the clinical care provided at each site.

In a rotational clerkship, students spend time rotating through various clinical departments within hospitals at their regional home site, with exceptions of rural family practice during which they are placed in communities across the province.  The course is divided into four 12-week blocks covering the following disciplines:

  • Women’s and Children’s Health: Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology
  • Surgical and Perioperative Care: Surgery, Orthopedics, Anesthesiology
  • Brain and Body: Internal Medicine, Psychiatry
  • Ambulatory Care: Emergency Medicine, Rural Family Practice, and Ambulatory Care (e.g., Internal Medicine, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Geriatrics, Palliative Care)

Students experience MEDD 431 through a rotational clerkship or an Integrated Community Clerkship (ICC).

Students at the Northern Medical Program (NMP) can experience a blend of both clerkship models (Northern Regional Integrated Clerkship or NRIC) with 6 months spent at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (UHNBC) and 6 months in a rural community.

In the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program, students accepted into the VFMP-Fraser Medical Cohort will complete the majority of MEDD 431 in the Fraser Region.

During their second year, students have the opportunity to rank their preferred sites for MEDD 431. If matched to an ICC, an NRIC or Kamloops rotational clerkship, students are required to relocate to the community they are matched to. Clerkship site preference is not guaranteed.

ICC and NRIC students learn about comprehensive care and build professional identity through longitudinal relationships with patients and preceptors. ICC students spend time embedded in a community in locations across the province, working closely with the same preceptors and gaining exposure to multiple areas of medical practice in an integrated fashion throughout the course of MEDD 431.

Students in all rotational models and locations cover the same curriculum to ensure that they acquire foundational knowledge and clinical skills to meet the exit competencies of the program.

MEDD 440

This course encompasses six months of Year 4 of the MD undergraduate program (MDUP). Students will choose from available electives that are between 2 and 4 weeks in duration (in province, out of province (OOP), out of country (OOC)) and participate in all relevant clinical and academic activities associated with those electives. The overall goal of MEDD 440 is to provide students with core experiences across the breadth of medicine in disciplines and locations of their choosing through both clinical and academic learning opportunities.

MEDD 448 - Transition into Postgraduate Education and Practice

This course has been specifically designed to facilitate students’ effective transition from medical school into residency and medical practice. Students will review concepts they’ve encountered over the course of their entire medical school experience and apply them to complex clinical presentations that integrate foundational sciences and practice themes. An additional priority of the course is to provide students with the practical skills to help them excel in their future residency.

MEDD 449 - Flexible Enhanced Learning III

This course is an opportunity to build on scholarly activities initiated in MEDD 419 and 429, or start new ones. It emphasizes social accountability and fosters innovation and critical thought to prepare graduates for roles as scholars, life-long learners, and leaders.

Learn more about the MD Undergraduate Program’s Mission and Exit Competencies.