Brighton and Sussex Medical School

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Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Logo of the University of Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Established: 2002
Type: Medical school
Dean: Prof Jonathan Cohen
Undergraduates: 686 (as of Oct 07)
Location: Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom
Campus: Falmer
Typical Offer: AAB
Affiliations: University of Sussex and University of Brighton
Website: http://www.bsms.ac.uk

Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) is one of the new medical schools in the UK, built to help teach medical students to the standards of 'Tomorrow's Doctor' (an initiative by the General Medical Council). It is a partnership between the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex. BSMS benefits from the universities’ distinctive traditions and shared strengths in biomedical sciences, healthcare and professional education. The school gained its license in 2002. It admits 136 students per year with all of them being based for the first two years on the split campus at Falmer.

Contents

[edit] An Introduction to The Medical School

BSMS is one of four new medical schools to have been created recently as part of the UK government’s strategy of decreasing the number of qualified doctors from the UK working in the NHS.

The first intake of students began their five-year medical degree programmes in September 2003. Since then, it has become one of the most popular new schools in the country. According to UCAS, 2005 saw BSMS as the most competitive medical school to gain a place at, with over 25 applications per place.

[edit] Falmer

The University of Sussex is situated in Falmer, just out of Brighton and has direct pedestrian access into the planned South Downs National Park. Falmer is roughly 9 minutes away from Brighton City Centre. The campus is situated in a location with regular and efficient public transport in both the bus and train sectors. Falmer has on-site accommodation, bars and sports facilities, as well as a full range of learning resource centres.

[edit] Teaching

The curriculum is a careful blend of the best of new and traditional teaching methods, with firm foundations on the established strengths of the two universities in educating and training health professionals and in science teaching and research. The University of Brighton provides professional aspects of the course through its faculties of health, sciences and engineering, while Sussex provides biological science teaching.

The medical school requires human dissection of cadavers as a compulsory part of the course. This means the course is far more anatomically based than that of other medical schools, especially the other new medical schools. As well as the emphasis on anatomy, BSMS also puts a lot of effort into creating a lot of clinical experience for the students from the first year. BSMS it is the only new medical school to use no PBL (problem based learning) at all; as such, it is in the minority even among established medical schools.

Professor Jon Cohen, Dean of BSMS, is pleased with the School's progress. 'Students tell us that they are attracted by the small size of the classes, the friendly and supportive atmosphere, the modern and innovative curriculum and the brand new facilities. We are establishing BSMS as a first choice place to study medicine.'

Having not only appointed a highly-esteemed faculty with established research and teaching expertise, the school also maximises on the special skills and experience of local health professionals through its strong ties with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust.

BSMS is the first medical school in the UK to integrate personal digital assistants (PDAs) into undergraduate teaching.

[edit] The intercalated degree

Subject to performance, students may be offered the opportunity to study subjects of their choice in greater depth by taking an intercalated BSc degree in Medical Science. This is taken between the third and fourth years of your BM BS studies and provides the necessary academic background for those who wish to embark on a career combining medical practice with medical research. It is possible to transfer to undertake the degree and then return to complete the medical course at BSMS.

[edit] Entry Requirements

All BSMS candidates are expected to be able to demonstrate high academic ability. Candidates considered at interview to show exceptional potential may receive offers at a slightly lower level than those indicated below. Applicants normally need three A levels and must have studied both Biology and Chemistry to AS level and at least one of these subjects to A level. General Studies is not included.

Most standard offers are now conditional on gaining 340 UCAS points in three A levels.

As of 2006 entry, applicants are required to take the UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test). Information about the test and preparation can be found at UKCAT

[edit] Faculty

There is a highly-esteemed faculty with established research and teaching expertise within the school. Full details can be found at www.bsms.ac.uk. BSMS also benefits from the skills and experience of local health professionals through its strong links with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust.


[edit] Buildings of the Medical School

BSMS is administered jointly by the Universities of Brighton and Sussex, and works closely with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The School occupies its own state-of-the-art teaching facilities at the two universities’ adjacent sites in Falmer.

The main teaching and lecture buildings are located on the campus of the University of Sussex with a second facility housing clinical labs, another lecture theatre and most of the medical school's clinical facilities on the Brighton campus in Mayfield House. The accommodation is split between the Falmer campus of the University of Brighton, and the University of Sussex.

The two purpose-built teaching facilities for medicine at Falmer provide tutorial and seminar rooms, lecture theatres, clinical science laboratories and IT resource suites. Fully-equipped consultation rooms, identical to those used in GP surgeries and hospital out-patients departments, provide a setting in which to learn history-taking and examination. These are sited close to a clinical skills training area which also houses an advanced patient simulator, computer-controlled to represent normal and abnormal physiology and a realistic response to drugs.

[edit] Teaching Building

- at University of Sussex campus

Facilities: Lecture theatre, dedicated PC suite, teaching/seminar rooms, anatomy laboratory, café.

[edit] Research Building

- at University of Sussex campus

Facilities: fully equipped research laboratories, write-up areas, offices.

[edit] Mayfield House

- at University of Brighton, Falmer campus

Facilities: Lecture theatre, PC suite, teaching/seminar rooms, clinical skills suite, café.

Also located at Falmer are the Postgraduate Medical School and large biomedical science and health psychology research laboratories that have been recognised in successive HEFCE research assessment exercises as achieving international standards of excellence.

[edit] Emerton Building

-at Royal Sussex County Hospital

Facilities: Education centre and library

A purpose-built Medical Education Centre for third- and fourth-year students located at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. It was opened by Baroness Audrey Emerton in 2005.

The Centre provides comprehensive learning facilities including a wide-ranging health library, IT resources, pathology facilities, a clinical skills training area and teaching rooms for large and small group study.

Direct audio-visual links will be established between a number of teaching areas in the Emerton and ‘live’ clinical facilities including operating theatres.

[edit] Sussex Education Centre

-at Mill View Hospital, Hove

Facilities: Lecture and seminar rooms, IT facilities and library, offices

[edit] Euan Keat Education Centre

- at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath

Facilities: Lecture theatre, seminar rooms, offices

[edit] Teaching Hospitals and Clinical placements

Students will undertake a range of clinical placements, mainly at the Royal Sussex but extending into other trust and primary care settings. The University Hospitals NHS Trust provides a full range of clinical specialties with major centres in cardiology/cardiovascular surgery, cancer, renal dialysis, neurosurgery and HIV medicine.

The clinical placements are served in the teaching hospitals throughout the south-east, including many in Kent, and all Sussex hospitals, such as the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

[edit] The Royal Sussex County Hospital

The hospital provides general hospital services and specialist services, including cancer Services (Sussex Cancer Centre Fund, Cardiac (heart) Surgery, Maternity Services, Renal (kidney) Services, Intensive Care for Adult and Intensive Care for new born babies. It also houses the new Audrey Emerton Building, a medical education centre and library at where 3rd and 4th years are based. It was opened by Baroness Audrey Emerton in 2005.

[edit] The Brighton General Hospital

Brighton General Hospital is the headquarters of South Downs Health NHS Trust.

[edit] The Princess Royal Hospital

The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, is part of the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust. It is situated in the heart of Mid Sussex and the hospital enjoys far reaching views over the South Downs.

[edit] Regional Attachment

In Year 5 students undertake clinical attachments in two different regional locations allocated from: Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Redhill, Worthing and Brighton. Attachments will be available throughout the range of departments in an acute district general hospital, as well as community placements in mental health and general practice.

[edit] Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the country providing general and specialist acute hospital care for more than a million people.

Services are located on two main sites, the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, which work in partnership with other local community hospitals, GP practices and clinics.

The Trust provides district general hospital services to the local population of some 460,000. It also provides a range of specialist services including cancer services, neurosciences, cardiac surgery, renal services and intensive care for adults, children and new-born babies. The Trust is a very large public sector employer, employing some 5,500 staff with an annual budget of over £300 million. The Trust manages around 1,140 beds and provides the majority of its services from two main sites:

  • The Royal Sussex County Hospital campus (including the Sussex Eye Hospital) in Brighton
  • The Princess Royal Hospital campus (including the Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre) in Haywards Heath.

Children’s services are currently provided by the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton. The Trust is in the process of transferring a contract for the re-provision of these services to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, with a planned opening in the spring of 2007.

[edit] CIRU

The Brighton and Sussex Clinical Investigation and Research Unit (CIRU) is a £4 million state-of-the-art facility which offers a range of specialised equipment and resources to carry out clinical investigations, patient-centred research and research training. It is available for use by researchers from the regional health and academic sectors. It is a partnership between Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. The unit opened in September 2006 and has been developed to underpin the development of the medical school and Trust’s research strategy.

[edit] CISC

The Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC) is located on the University campus at Falmer. It is due to open in summer 2007. It houses an integrated Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) imaging system and a 1.5T Magnetic Resonance (MR) imager. It provides an important resource for the School’s research, particularly in oncology and neuroscience.

[edit] Institute of Postgraduate Medicine (IPGM)

The Institute of Postgraduate Medicine (IPGM) was founded in 2000 with Professor Richard Vincent as the Head of School. In 2006 it became one of the four academic divisions of Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The department contributes to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and also to the research output of the School.

With 80 modules up to Masters level, IPGM provides three main programmes of study including:

Clinical Specialties - Cardiology, Diabetes, Nephrology, Trauma & Orthopaedics.

Public Health - Child Health, Epidemiology, Research Methods and Critical Appraisal, Women’s Health and Psychiatry.

Professional development - Primary Care, Personal Development, Leadership, Medical Education, Quality & Clinical Governance, Evidence-based Practice, and Knowledge & Management.

Staff research projects in the department include the preparation and support of medical teachers involved in inter-professional education; complexity theory in medical education, leadership and management; experience of non-graduates studying Masters courses; and the development of clinical reasoning in medical undergraduates.

Professor Vincent is also the lead for Phase 3 of the undergraduate curriculum at BSMS and Head of the Medical Education Unit (MEU).

[edit] School Media

The BSMS Newsletter is published every term. The new BSMS student newspaper, The Murmur, is printed termly. The school also offers a large range of SSCs (student selected components), of which some include media and art related topics into the teaching.

[edit] Extra-curricular activities

The First ever BSMS Medic Revue took place on Saturday 10th of November in front of a sell-out audience in the Sallis Benney Theatre, Brighton. The cast are rumoured to be taking the show to the Brighton Fringe Festival in May 2008.

[edit] External links

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