UWA Handbook 2025

Unit Overview

Description

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) course is based around six themes—professional, leader, advocate, clinician, educator and scholar. This unit provides teaching in all of these themes within the rural clinical attachments and related teaching in Year 4 of the MD course. This consists of student attachments to rural medical practitioners and includes exposure to, and practice in, a variety of clinical disciplines including, but not restricted to, emergency medicine, internal medicine, surgery including ENT, anaesthetics and pain management, oncology and palliative care, and rural general practice.

Students undertake clinical care of patients under the supervision of experienced clinicians in a real rural clinical environment including ward rounds, operating theatre, outpatient clinics, emergency department attachments, community practices and other clinical environments. Students are expected to apply the knowledge, skills and professional attitudes gained in a rural context.

Credit

18 points

Offering
(see Timetable)

Availability	Location	Mode
Non-standard teaching period	Albany	Face to face
Non-standard teaching period	Broome	Face to face
Non-standard teaching period	Bunbury	Face to face
Non-standard teaching period	Geraldton	Face to face
Non-standard teaching period	Kalgoorlie	Face to face

Outcomes

Students are able to (1) display professional behaviour in the educational and clinical settings, discuss challenges to professionalism in

specified clinical disciplines, and reflect on and manage professional behaviours in the clinical setting; display

critical and insightful self-awareness of own personal values, well-being, personal difficulties and professional

performance and implement effective management strategies when necessary; and comply with medico-legal

responsibilities, recognise and discuss complex ethical and legal issues in medical practice; and explain the

legal and regulatory requirements of health professionals; (2) discuss the leadership and management roles of the doctor at the societal, community, organisational, team

and personal levels; and contribute professional knowledge, skills and resources within the clinical team to

enhance patient care; participate effectively in collaborative health teams involving other health professionals

and patients/families/carers; and discuss health politics, health policy development, the journey of the patient

within the health system, system improvement methodologies, and career pathways and governance

; (3) (3) demonstrate

advocacy for individual patients, groups, communities or populations; display culturally secure, comprehensive health care

for Aboriginal people and their carers/families/communities; display sensitive and individualized health care for patients

taking into account diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and factors contributing to health inequalities; and discuss and plan

health maintenance, promotion, and prevention interventions with patients and colleagues; (4) integrate knowledge of the

classification, epidemiology, aetiology, anatomy, pathophysiology, clinical and pathological manifestations, natural history,

diagnostic and therapeutic strategies with core presentations and medical conditions; perform an accurate, relevant, timely

and prioritised patient assessment; apply justifiable diagnostic reasoning strategies to formulate a relevant and prioritized

differential diagnosis and diagnostic strategy for core presentations and medical conditions; and apply logical clinical

judgement and decision-making in individual clinical situations; demonstrate an ability to prioritise management of illness

and injury in partnership with patient/carers/families and other health professionals; select and use therapies under

supervision applying their evidence base to individual patients; and perform specified procedural skills appropriately, safely

and effectively; assess and respect the patient's values, preferences, context, perspectives and impacts of their health and

health problems, and involve and inform the patient/carers/families during the decision-making and management process;

display caring, compassionate and empathic behaviours with patients/carers/families and communicate professionally,

respectfully, courteously and effectively with patients, carers, families and other health professionals; and apply a quality

framework to medical practice and display a commitment to continued improvement of clinical performance; (5) demonstrate critical self-reflection skills as a learner a capacity for life-long learning; discuss and apply effective approaches

to developing mentoring and support relationships; plan and implement education for patients/carers/families based on the

principles of patient education and counselling; implement teaching sessions that are guided by the principles of effective

teaching and learning; and display effective self-assessment skills, seek and effectively respond to constructive feedback,

provide constructive feedback to others, and evaluate different assessment methods and strategies; and (6) apply researchbased knowledge from medical sciences as the basis for clinical practice; apply evidence-based practice strategies and tools

to specified core medical conditions and presentations and clinical practice; and use clinical information and support

systems and resources in a relevant, effective and professional manner.

Assessment

Indicative assessments in this unit are as follows: (1) in-training assessment during the clinical attachments including case presentations, structured clinical assessments, quizzes, other portfolio-based items; (2) end-of-unit written examinations; (3) professional behaviour assessment; (4) portfolio; (5) end-of-unit objective structured clinical skills examination; and (6) procedural skills log. Further information is available in the unit outline.

To pass this unit, a student must: (a) achieve an overall mark of 50 per cent or higher for the unit; and (b) achieve the requisite requirements(s) or a mark of 50 per cent or greater, whichever is higher and specified in the unit outline, for the in-training assessment during the clinical attachments including case presentations, structured clinical assessments, quizzes, other portfolio-based items, end-of-unit written examinations, professional behaviour assessment, portfolio, end-of-unit objective structured clinical skills examination, and procedural skills log components.

Student may be offered supplementary assessment in this unit if they meet the eligibility criteria.

Unit Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Michele Gawlinski

Unit rules

Prerequisites

Successful completion of

RMED5311 Integrated Rural Medical Practice 1
and RMED5321 Integrated Rural Medical Practice 2

Co-requisites

Any one of the following Scholarly Activity units: PUBH4403 Epidemiology I, SRUR5331 Rural Specialisation—Research Unit 1' SRUR5332 Rural Specialisation—Service Learning Unit 1, SMED5331 Research Unit 1, SMED5332 Service Learning Unit 1
or IMED5801 Principles of Teaching and Learning.

Approved quota: 30—each rural site will host between 2 and 8 students depending of availability of clinical placements and supervision.

Contact hours

Up to 40 hours per week

Note

In order to pass the unit, students are required to achieve a pass in the unit overall, AND a pass in the combined written examinations, AND a pass in the in- training assessment, AND a pass in the OSCE, AND a pass in the PBA, AND a pass in the portfolio component, AND a pass in the procedural skills log.