Unit information: Year 2 MB ChB in 2026/27

Unit name	Year 2 MB ChB
Unit code	BRMS20001
Credit points	0
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Dr. Bradbury
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	Successful completion of Year 1 Unit MBChB.
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None.
Units you may not take alongside this one	Not applicable in the MBChB programme.
School/department	Bristol Medical School
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Unit Information

Unit Directors: Dr Charlotte Bradbury and Dr Jessica Buchan

Year 2 builds on the culture developed in Year 1 in embedding students within the Bristol Medical School community; to continue to inspire students to learn about medicine.

Unit Aims
1. To build on the foundations laid in Year 1 to enable students to begin learning about disease processes
2. To develop students’ understanding of medical terminology
3. To continue the development of communication skills and effective consultation
4. To develop students’ professional behavior
5. To continue to help students to function as part of the NHS and as part of multidisciplinary teams
6. To allow students to meet patients and discuss their disease and how it impacts on them
7. To encourage students to deal with uncertainty and doubt within their practice

Your learning on this unit

The student will be expected:

1. to develop consultation skills through experience in obtaining a clinical history from patients in primary and secondary care settings.
2. to study a topic of choice from a portfolio of placements offered in a variety of academic and clinical settings. They will study an aspect in detail through self-directed learning and production of a written report.
3. to develop presentation skills through production of an individual or group poster for a student conference.
4. to develop an understanding of normal processes in the functions of skin and integument, body defences and blood and consider how deficiencies in these processes can give rise to disease.
5. to develop an understanding of how drugs work by considering the pharmacology and pharmacodynamics of important drug classes used in the treatment of human disease.
6. to apply knowledge of common diseases and gain understanding of the common presentations of disease in UK medical practice to be able to formulate differential diagnosis.
7. to develop an understanding of the application of probability to clinical reasoning in order to prioritize a differential diagnosis by the likelihood of individual diseases.
8. to gain an initial understanding of how evidence-based practice informs their clinical decision-making.
9. to gain a deeper understanding of the helical themes underpinning medical practice by returning in the clinical cases during Year 2 to themes visited in Year 1 at a higher level of knowledge and complexity.

How you will learn

Year 2 commences with a 3 week Effective Consulting Clerkship (ECC) in which the students will gain experience within the Clinical Academies through direct patient contact; consolidating the clinical skills developed in the Effective Consulting theme in Year1. ECC sits alongside a 3 week Student Choice Placement (SCP): half the year group will do SCP while the other half follow ECC, and then switch over. The SCP provides a diverse range of subjects to experience or undertake research into.

Year 2 is delivered using a blended learning style that includes both face-to-face learning, where possible, and online synchronous and asynchronous lectures, interactive cross-disciplinary plenary sessions, online learning resources, facilitated case-based learning (CBL) small group sessions, specialised small group tutorials, practical sessions and various clinical days throughout the year.

How you will be assessed

Year 2 knowledge is assessed via a written summative examination, and practical/clinical skills are assessed in a Clinical and Practical Assessment (CAPA). Students must also complete a student choice project which is assessed via a written report and a poster presentation.

The student is expected to engage satisfactorily* with the following:

1. Case Based Learning (CBL)
2. Effective Consulting (EC Labs & Clinical Contact)
3. Effective Consulting Clerkship (ECC)
4. Practical Sessions
5. Student Choice Project 2
6. One off events and tutorials
7. Team Assessment of Behaviour (TAB)

The student must sit the following formative assessments:

1. Knowledge-based quiz: SBA examination
2. Progress Testing
3. Pre and post practical session quizzes - MUST COMPLETE

The student must PASS the following summative assessments:

1. End of Year 2 summative SBA examination 2. End of Year 2 summative Clinical and Practical Assessment (CAPA) 3. Year 2 Student Choice Project

• For full details of what constitutes satisfactory engagement, please view the Student Progression Requirements (Management of Marks) document.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. BRMS20001).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.