MD Discovery 4: Creation (MEDS90042)

This subject provides a range of Discovery choices for students entering their fourth (final) year of the Melbourne Doctor of Medicine course.

The subject “MD Discovery 4: Creation” is intended to give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an area of study and develop scholarly work that makes a novel contribution to the field, such as publications from a research project, producing an educational resource with evaluation, developing a community information program, or implementing a new quality improvement process in the clinical setting, as just some examples.

Students may choose to build further on learning gained in the subjects “MD Discovery 1: Foundation” in the first year of their Doctor of Medicine course, “MD Discovery 2: Application” in the second year, and/or “MD Discovery 3: Integration in the third year, or they can choose to explore completely different topics of interest, in which case their prior Discovery choices still act as valuable academic preparation for this capstone subject despite having different content focus. 

Each of the learning options available within this subject meets the educational standards required of the medical degree and is designed to enhance the student’s personal and professional growth.  Students are encouraged to choose options that broaden and deepen their learning. 

This subject, “MD Discovery 4: Creation” is taken in the fourth, final year of the Melbourne MD and is intended to give students further insights into an area about which they may have developed a general or even vocational interest over the course. 

Students may choose options that include clinical or other workplace immersions (Clinical Scholar track), or a research project (Research Scholar track), or a mixture of the two.  The Clinical Scholar track allows students to engage in clinical placements with suitable scholarly activities to explore the medical practitioner’s roles as an advocate, a leader and a professional, whereas the Research Scholar path involves students undertaking a research project that is intended to result in an academic publication.  Students may propose a learning plan that blends the two tracks.