Doctor of Medicine (MC-DMED)

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) program is a four-year postgraduate, entry to practice medical course. Graduates of the program are prepared to join the medical workforce as an intern, with the requisite knowledge, skills and attributes to deliver excellent healthcare within the Australian health system.

The MD is a full-time course of study, with learning in clinical settings in each year of the program. Student’s learning is structured around three domains: applied biomedical science, clinical skills and professional practice. Embedded within each of these domains are the themes of First Nations Health, Population and Global Health and research methods. In Year 1 students will develop foundational knowledge and skills via small group tutorials, practicals, clinical placement and interactive online learning. In years 2 and 3 students are immersed in full time clinical placement where they apply foundational knowledge and skills to a broad range of patient encounters in a wide variety of health care settings. Clinical placement is complemented with small group tutorials, simulation, clinical and procedural skills alongside online interactive learning. In Year 4 students complete a research project in an area of interest and undertake a clinical placement-based capstone experience- learning as trainee junior doctors. This final capstone experience ensures that students are well prepared for their pending entry into the health care workforce.

A highlight of the MD program is the opportunity for students to individualise their learning experiences through participation in a Discovery learning pathway at each level of the MD. Discovery learning can be selected from a variety of bespoke clinically focused topics or from a curated list of approved faculty subjects allowing students to explore a wide range of areas or complete a deeper dive into a future speciality. In the final two years of Discovery learning, students can choose to follow a research scholar pathway that extends their knowledge and skills in research and leadership or a clinical scholar pathway that extends their knowledge and skills in health advocacy and leadership.

Another unique feature of the Melbourne MD is the yearly student conference. The MD Student Conference provides opportunities for broader disciplinary and inter-disciplinary learning and brings together all students from the MD. The conference allows students to participate in future focused learning and provides opportunities to explore areas of interest beyond core medical practice.

Beyond core, discovery and conference learning, students also have the opportunity to complete an elective placement outside of their allocated clinical school to broaden their understanding of health care. Rural rotations are available to all students to provide opportunities to experience clinical training in a rural setting.

Overall the Doctor of Medicine is an ungraded course, with subject achievement being a pass/fail. An ungraded MD is intended to decrease stress and improve student wellbeing, promote intrinsic motivation and longer-term learning, foster collaborative practice, and to support professional identify formation. Minimum performance standards across all standardised assessments in the MD program (for example OSCE and MCQ assessments) are set using widely accepted standard setting methods (such as the Modified Angoff and Borderline Regression approaches). Non-standardised assessments (such as workplace based assessments) and written assignments are assessed on a 5-point Likert scale, with the minimum performance standard (“satisfactory”) carefully mapped to the relevant subject and course intended learning outcomes.