都柏林圣三一学院

What is Medicine?

Medicine is a unique course in that students study a broad range of subjects with the overarching objective of understanding the science and practice of healing. In today’s world, medicine and the practice of healthcare are constantly evolving as new knowledge and therapies emerge to maintain and restore health through the prevention and treatment of illness. Each day brings a new patient with new challenges.

Medicine: The course for you?

The medical programme at Trinity is a challenging but highly rewarding experience. A student wishing to study medicine requires an enquiring mind, the capacity to acquire and maintain high levels of knowledge, the ability to develop effective communication skills in order to respond to the health needs of individuals, families and communities and an interest in improving healthcare at all levels.

The relatively small size of our School allows staff to get to know students individually in a highly supportive educational environment. Student engagement is encouraged from the outset and this provides a firm foundation for a life-time of practice and learning in medicine.

Students of medicine at Trinity will follow a five-year programme. Following graduation you are required to spend one year as an Intern in an approved post before becoming a fully registered medical practitioner.

The major characteristics of medicine at Trinity are:

• Integration of scientific and clinical material and delivery in context
• Clinical contact from the first year of the programme
• Research module in second year
• Continuous review and revision of the assessment programme to ensure alignment with the stated outcomes and course content
• Recognition of the patient as an active partner
• Prioritisation of personal and professional development
• Excellent library facilities on the Trinity campus and on both of the major teaching hospital sites.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

As a doctor, you will have plenty of options to choose from when it comes to making a decision about your career. In Ireland, many graduates wait until their year as an intern is complete before committing to one area over another. Some then enter general practice, while many more continue their training as a general physician or surgeon, or in a related specialist field. Alternatively, you might, as others have done, prefer to work in an area such as hospital management, or make research your priority by opting for a career in academic medicine.

Your degree and what you’ll study

FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD YEARS

Students study the biomedical sciences to create an understanding of the knowledge underlying medicine and begin clinical science in the first term through the Family Case Study. Teaching is a combination of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the first year, small group teaching (12-14 students), lectures and practical demonstrations. Self-directed learning and use of e-learning are encouraged throughout the course.

FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS

During these two years the emphasis is on continuous enhancement of the skills and attitudes acquired in the first three years of the course. There is, of course, acquisition of important new knowledge and most of this is achieved through interaction with a wide range of consultants and mentors both on the wards and at various hospital conferences. The student becomes an integrated member of each team to which he/she is attached and is expected to participate fully in all aspects of that team’s activities.