My name is Derick van Vuuren and I’m the MBChB programme coordinator in
the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.
I n this short session I’ll introduce you to the MBChB programme
and what you can expect if you decide to pursue a career in Medicine with us at the University.
Now, there are many reasons why someone could consider pursuing a career in Medicine:
recognition, work security, options to advance and excel in a professional career.
But I’m always interested in the personal reasons: maybe a near-death experience, a disease in the family,
a desire to make a fundamental difference in people’s lives.
The aim of our MBChB programme is summarised in the profile of the Stellenbosch doctor.
Once a student graduates in Medicine, we need to be sure that he or she has attained the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes to function and contribute to the healthcare sector in South Africa.
Studying Medicine is not just a question of sitting behind the books and learning a lot about the human body.
It is an all-encompassing journey from where you’re at in the first year,
all the way to being a healthcare professional.
We are currently in the process of renewing our MBChB programme and it is this new curriculum
which you will participate in if you choose to undertake your journey with us.
The MBChB programme is built on a few fundamental principles.
That the approach and content of the MBChB degree should be relevant to our national context and the
burden of disease that we face in South Africa.
Medicine is not just knowledge, it is to a large degree skills, and with this in mind we pursue early clinical exposure for our students.
In terms of the actual content and in line with current trends, teaching and learning
will happen in a blended approach in which the use of online resources, technology,
and face-to-face interactions will be mixed to optimise learning.
In the renewed curriculum we have moved away from traditional exam-centric assessments to a flexible
assessment approach where multiple and continuous assessment opportunities will be utilised
in order to not only decide on progression, but also especially to contribute to learning.
Progressing from wanting to become a doctor to being a medical professional requires fundamental
changes in attitudes and identity. And so, the intention is that students should be exposed to
transformative learning, including aspects such as exposure to and practice in reflective practices.
Also structuring the curriculum in a way to enhance both integration and continuity between
the aspects covered, with each new module building on what has been learnt in the preceding modules.
Using these principles to guide us, the Medicine degree is built on what we call the four pillars.
Self. The journey to become a doctor is tough. It is hard work. It requires dedication and sacrifice.
But that is not only true of the journey, it is also true of the profession.
Being a doctor is challenging and requires a lot. It is therefore important that you must
have the skills and self-knowledge to take care of yourself so that you can take care of others.
Of course, the patient, the people that you will serve.
But people don’t live in isolation, nor do diseases and ill health develop in a void.
The community is critical in understanding your patient, where ill health comes from,
and even more importantly, how to equip people to pursue health and wellness.
And finally, the health system.
This is the context in which you will function as a medical student and also later as a professional.
This will not only be your context, but will also eventually be your responsibility to enhance and improve.
What does all of this mean in practice? In the first three years of your studies, you will be
exposed to six large modules, one per semester. These will be fully integrated and include aspects
covering a wide variety of fields and disciplines. Each of these modules, including those offered in
the first year, will include clinical skills, training in our clinical simulation facilities,
as well as exposure to primary healthcare in the longitudinal primary healthcare exposure
where students will have the opportunity to interact with patients, practice clinical skills,
and get exposure to the primary healthcare system and the communities which we serve.
These six large modules are designed to follow on each other, starting with
the start of your journey at university in being and becoming in healthcare,
then moving to the basics in form and function, and an exploration of how the absence of disease looks like.
What is this health and wellness which we are pursuing?
This will be followed by dysfunction, a study of what goes wrong.
In the third year the focus will shift to investigations, clinical reasoning, and diagnosis,
with the last module zooming in on what can be done to address sickness and disease.
One of the aspects which will be entrenched in every module is evidence-based practice and research,
which will culminate in a short module in the fourth year called Clinical Curiosity.
The fourth and fifth years will primarily entail clinical training in a tertiary and secondary hospital setting.
In the final year, students will be sent out for the whole year to clinical training sites outside of the urban limits.
This clinical clerkship or apprenticeship will be the finishing phase.
Here students will become part of the clinical teams to complete their training
and prepare them for their national internship after they have graduated.
What can you expect from studying Medicine with us?
A steep, but satisfying learning curve.
A strong focus on the fact that this will be your journey and you will
have to take responsibility for your learning and what you get out of your time with us.
A partner in the form of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in your journey,
equipping you with everything you need to become a Stellenbosch doctor.
And a community of like-minded individuals, both your classmates around you, but also the senior students
with whom you will share the clinical spaces and the teachers and clinical trainers who will invest in your journey.
If you are passionate about people’s health and if you want to make an impact in the community around you,
then you will certainly find a home at the MBChB programme at Stellenbosch University.