Sorry for late reply. So, throughout the 5 years, how many years do you spend in total at Campbeltown? And how many years at the selected hospital you choose? I also heard that you must alternate between different hospitals. E.g. if you pick Blacktown for one year, then you must pick a different one the next time. Can you clarify a bit more =).
Thanks a lot
Apologies for the exceptionally late reply.
The degree is split into pre-clinical spent mostly at uni (2 years) + clinical in various rotations (3 years) = 5
From my experience, in your pre-clinical years they try and place you in the closest hospital. The hospital placements in the first two years are to introduce you to history taking, patient-doctor relations, examinations and skills you will need in your clinical years. It is a tutorial in a group of 6 with a doctor and is called "Introduction to Clinical Medicine" and is
always abbreviated to 'ICM'.
The hospitals for first year are Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Campbelltown and Camden. I live in the hills, so blacktown hospital would be the closest, however I was placed in Mount Druitt. This was most likely because there weren't enough facilities for first years at blacktown (no idea though) but I have no regrets, I had an amazing doctor who really helped us learn the things we needed and more. This was on a thursday for 2 hours.
Come second year, they can now accommodate everyone at either Blacktown or Campbelltown Hospital. So I was moved to Blacktown. Since everyone was placed in either Blacktown or Campbelltown, they didn't have enough doctors or rooms for all of us, so we were separated into either a wednesday or friday group. In addition, you not only had the ICM but you also had a tutorial that just focuses on your clinical skills called '
CPS'. This is a two hour tutorial on the same day as your ICM. E.g. I am on a Wednesday at Blacktown Hospital with a 8am CPS tutorial, a 1 hour break, and 11am ICM. After this I am free for the day.
Hopefully that is a sufficient run down about the pre-clinical years for you. I'm still in 2nd year, so I can't speak for the clinical years (years 3+). If you have any questions, please ask and I will try and answer them as soon as I can. =)
