Overview

Medicine offers one of the most demanding and rewarding paths into professional life, requiring not only rigorous scientific knowledge but also the confidence and compassion to care for people at their most vulnerable. The MBChB (Hons) Medicine course at the University of Dundee is built around the idea of becoming a "doctor from day one," giving students direct clinical experience and access to real patients from the very start of their studies. Teaching is centred on Ninewells Hospital, a working NHS site, so learning is shaped by daily contact with clinicians and an open-door policy that lets students speak to patients at any time. The course follows a spiral curriculum, revisiting core body systems with increasing depth each year, and uses full-body Thiel-embalmed cadavers for anatomy teaching, preserving lifelike tissue and joint mobility for a uniquely realistic dissection experience. Students learn to take clinical histories and perform examinations from year one, train in a dedicated Clinical Skills Centre with a replica ward, and can practise emergency scenarios in an Immersion Room or surgical technique in the Surgical Skills Centre. After year three, students may choose to intercalate for an additional year and gain a BMSc, before moving into extended clinical placements in years four and five. This course suits those seeking a hands-on, patient-centred medical education, and graduates leave fully prepared to begin foundation training as confident, well-rounded junior doctors.

What You'll Learn

The fundamental sciences underpinning medicine, introduced through a Foundation in Medicine block

Body systems and clinical problem-solving, revisited with increasing depth through a spiral curriculum

Clinical history-taking and examination skills, introduced from year one

Anatomy through hands-on dissection using full-body Thiel-embalmed cadavers

Practical skills including scalpel handling and suturing

Emergency and surgical scenarios using simulation in the Immersion Room and Surgical Skills Centre

Extended clinical training across a range of real healthcare settings in the later years of the course

The option to intercalate and gain a BMSc by studying a subject in greater depth

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to think and act as confident, capable doctors, applying a strong scientific foundation to real clinical problems encountered on the wards of a working NHS hospital. They will have developed the ability to take clinical histories and perform examinations from early in their training, building the judgement and confidence needed to manage complex patient interactions across general practice, hospital and emergency settings. Extensive hands-on experience, from dissection using Thiel-embalmed cadavers to simulated and real clinical placements, will have built genuine practical competence in areas such as suturing, surgical technique and emergency response. Students will also be able to critically evaluate clinical situations and apply evidence-based reasoning to patient care, with those who intercalate gaining the opportunity to specialise further through a BMSc in a subject of their choice. Together, these outcomes prepare graduates to enter foundation training as well-rounded junior doctors, ready to practise with both clinical skill and genuine care for their patients.