At Southampton we run 3 programmes for students wishing to train to be doctors. The largest of these programmes is the BM5 programme which is the standard 5 year course aimed predominantly at school leavers. We also offer a graduate entry programme, BM4, which is a 4 year programme for students who have already completed a degree in another subject. In addition we have a widening access programme, BM6, which offers places to students from less advantaged backgrounds who may have all the necessary attributes to pursue a career as a doctor.
All 3 programmes will offer students the necessary grounding in basic science embedded in a clinical context from the beginning. In the later years the students will be based in primary care and hospitals focusing on developing their clinical skills in preparation for qualifying as a doctor and embarking on a Foundation Programme training scheme.
The most up to date entry criteria for each of the programmes can be found here:
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine
Our BM programmes are innovative and exciting with early patient contact and integration of basic science with clinical medicine embedded from the start. All 3 programmes are demanding, and require our students to be both hard working and resilient. As well as acquiring knowledge and skill, our students will also learn about professionalism and personal development in order to prepare them to work in the modern health service.
In the final 2 years of the programmes, the students are allocated placements across the Wessex region where they have ample opportunity to gain the required experience in a wide variety of clinical attachments. Students also have the chance throughout their course to choose student selected units which in the early years can include language courses and medical humanities. In the later years the courses are more clinically focused and allow the students to pursue an area of particular clinical interest or to consider a career taster.
In the last year of the programme with the final examinations hopefully safely under their belt after Christmas, the students have the opportunity to undertake an elective period abroad in a healthcare setting. Before graduation and embarking on the start of their career as a “junior doctor”, students will do a 4 week placement in a hospital setting as an “apprentice” to a junior doctor.
Medicine is a rich and varied career offering great rewards in terms of job satisfaction. To share in the privilege of working as a doctor, students need to be dedicated, compassionate and hardworking individuals who ultimately will need to put the needs of their patients first.