Why choose the Medicine for Healthcare Professionals programme?

Hello, my name is Dr Jen Kennedy. I'm the Programme Director for HCP Med and I'm also a GP. HCP Med is an innovative undergraduate medical programme run by Edinburgh Medical School. It's designed specifically for healthcare professionals including veterinary surgeons and clinical scientists who are living and working in Scotland. HCP Med has four unique features. Firstly, it's open only to healthcare professionals, veterinary surgeons and clinical scientists. This means that it offers an opportunity to individuals already working in the healthcare sector who may not have thought about studying medicine straight from school to have a career as a doctor. The second feature is that the first three years are part-time which allows students to continue in their current profession while studying for their medical degree. The third unique feature is that for the first two years most of the teaching is done online. And finally, tuition fees for all five years of the HCP Med programme are funded by the Scottish Funding Council. Hello, my name is Kezia Brown and I'm a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in NHS Lothian and the e-learning lead for the HCP Med course. When designing the online learning curriculum we've tried to balance a number of seemingly contradictory factors that make our course unique in medical education. Our students are part-time and continue to work in their own profession so need flexibility in how they access their online learning, but also predictability in how it's delivered. Relying solely on self-directed learning for a medical degree may lead to students feeling isolated or unsupported and brings other challenges such as lack of clarity on core concepts. We believe we've addressed these issues by creating high quality asynchronous learning materials that students access in a guided but self-directed manner, mixing with regular synchronous online sessions with expert tutors who put this knowledge into practice in case-based discussion and small group activities. We're always open to feedback given this is a relatively new course and try to act on it as quickly as possible to improve things for current students. Hi my name is Dr Polly Hashmi and I'm a scientist with a background in cardiovascular physiology. My role within the HCP Med program is director for years one and two. Our innovative curriculum is delivered through a range of teaching sites which include fully narrated and captured online lectures, team-based learning and hands-on clinical experience. The early years of the program aim to deliver a grounding in the basic medical sciences and place this knowledge in a clinical context wherever possible. We've moved away from the more traditional systems-based teaching into a more integrated approach. For example in our first module of the course we explore the human body in motion and how the various systems contribute and coordinate the most fundamental of human functions. These biomedical modules each lasting around 10 weeks are delivered alongside a number of longitudinal modules which span years one and two of the course and include learning about social aspects of medicine, research and evidence based medicine and applying medical knowledge to clinical practice. The third year of the HCP course has a more clinical focus than the early years and our students will spend time in hospital focusing on generic skills of history and examination as well as general practice where they'll explore the interface between primary and secondary care. Throughout this time they'll continue their self-directed learning and regular live online tutorials with topics related to hospital medical specialties and primary care. This means that the third year acts as a transition year before students will join our main NBCHP program for their final two years as full-time students.