Year 4 Preferencing and Allocations
The below information relates to students who commenced the MD Program (5578) prior to 2023.
Preferencing
In Year 4, students will undertake a range of clinical placements across two semesters.
Women’s and Children’s Health (WCH) Semester
| Advanced Hospital Practice (AHP) Semester
|
For those Year 4 students who completed their O&G and Paediatrics placements in Year 3, they will undertake the Primary Care Plus Semester in lieu of the WCH semester.
|
NOTE: Surgical Specialties (Orthopaedics & Ophthalmology) and Critical Care (Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Unit) are not placements in themselves, but a series of two and three week placements within the Advanced Hospital Practice Semester (depicted below).
Students will be allocated to a Clinical Unit for the duration of the academic year, and will undertake most of their clinical placements in the teaching sites associated with that Clinical Unit. Depending on the course, students will be required to complete some of their clinical placements at other clinical locations (e.g. Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology).
Students should read this information in conjunction with the Allocation Guidelines and Preferencing Dates. Students can find an example of the Year 4 Pathways offered in 2024 here (noting that these are indicative only and subject to change):
The 2024 Year 3 Allocation Presentation is available on the MD Community Site.
Students will have the opportunity to nominate their preference (rank order) for allocation to a Clinical Unit, as well as a preferred placement block for their Personalised Learning Course (PLC) Elective placement. Students who do not have a preferred block for their PLC Elective placement do not need to submit preferences for their placement block order.
Preferencing Tracker (Women & Children's Health) 2024 - Final Numbers
Clinical Unit | Available * | First Pref # |
65 | 30 | |
52 | 62 | |
25 | 57 | |
6 | 30 | |
17 | 16 | |
33 | 35 | |
11 | 0 | |
1 | 0 | |
2 | 0 | |
16 | 3 |
Clinical Unit | Available * | First Pref # |
0 | NA | |
5 | 13 | |
23 | 25 | |
17 | 16 | |
6 | 2 | |
0 | NA |
Please click here for access to the Placements System
Medical Specialties
Availability
Preferencing
RCS Return to Metro Medical Specialties
Ochsner Clinical School
Domestic and International Onshore Students may also apply to undertake their Medical Specialties at the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School in New Orleans. Further details can be found below under 'Ochsner Clincial School Placements'.
Elective (Personalised Learning Course)
Students are required to undertake the elective course during Year 4 of their program. The elective course includes a placement period that is six (6) weeks in duration. The elective placement can be undertaken at any approved location worldwide, including but not limited to Clinical Units of the Medical School. Applications for the elective placement activity must be made in accordance with the published guidelines and timeline.
General Practice
Rural Clinical School
Students in the Rural Clinical School do not need to preference their GP placement, as this is will be arranged directly by their Clinical Unit.
Greater Brisbane Clinical School
Students will have the opportunity to nominate their preference for a specific GP practice (preferencing dates can be found here). All placements are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the Medcial School.
Students are not permitted to preference for placements at practices where their family are patients or staff.
For more information GBCS GP placements, email med.gpstudents@uq.edu.au
Rural and Remote Medicine
In 2025, all Students (Domestic and International) are required to undertake MEDI7315 Rural and Remote Medicine (RRM), unless they have been granted an RRM Exemption via the Special Consideration Process.
Rural and Remote Medicine is focused on clinical practice in the rural context. After the release of finalised allocations, students will have the opportunity to preference by site - this is irrespective of their clinical unit allocation. While every attempt will be made to minimise changes to rural & remote placements, this may not always be possible due to operational requirements.
Prior to preferencing you will be able to view the location and profiles of possible domestic placement sites. You will be provided with a list of placements that will be available in your course and in your allocated placement block through the Placements system (InPlace). If you are undertaking the Comprehensive Clinical Practice (CCP) semester in the first half of 2024, you will be required to submit your preferences for RRM in September 2023. Alternatively, if you are undertaking CCP in Semester 2 you will required to submit your preferences in March 2024. As was the case with preferencing for your clinical unit, you will need to log into Placements to rank the available placements in your preferred order. This will occur on a semester basis and specific preferencing dates can be found here.
There are no restrictions on the placements you can choose in the preferencing process, as these placements are not tied to your clinical unit allocation for other courses. For RRM enquiries please contact med.rrmstudents@uq.edu.au.
RRM application for Priority Placement
Students have an opportunity to submit an application for Priority Placement prior to preferencing placement sites. Compelling reasons only will be considered, such as:
- students with a rural background or connection (i.e. completed TREES Observership) and may wish to complete a rural placement at a specific site
Further details can be found here, under the Placements tab.
Extended Placement Program
The Extended Placement Program provides an opportunity for all Onshore students (Domestic and International) to spend more time in a rural location by undertaking back to back placements in General Practice and Rural & Remote Medicine. The program focuses on continuity of practice in a rural community, thus for students enhancing patient and learner-centeredness.
It is known that rural primary care is an excellent setting for high quality clinical and educational experiences (Worley, Stasser & Prideaux, 2009). The chosen rural sites would provide an integrated learning environment with extensive clinical exposure. The Extended Placement Program will be enriched by having a Medical Educator take a role in supporting and assisting medical students to meet all the curriculum requirements. Students who are approved for the EPP will be allocated to undertake their General Practice (GP) placement prior to their Rural and Remote Medicine (RRM) placement.
In 2025, EPP is open to students taking their RRM and GP placements in either the Year 3 Comprenhensive Clinical Practice (CCP) semester, or the Year 4 Primary Care Plus semester.
Students wishing to undertake an EPP will be provided with accommodation for the duration of their EPP placements and are entitled to financial assistance through the Rural Placement Student Support Program.
Please see the EPP information flyer and EPP Information booklet for further details or contact Rural & Remote Medicine Team via email: med.rrmstudents@uq.edu.au or by phone (07) 4633 9705.
For a first hand insight into the Extended Placement Program, check out Travis' story here.
How to Apply
2025 EPP Applications open: 12:00 noon Monday 27 May, 2024
2025 EPP Applications close: 12:00 noon Monday 3 June, 2024
To apply, complete the Application form.
Ochsner Clinical School Placements
The Medical School recognises that various circumstances can give rise to students requesting a reallocation of their existing placements so they can spend more time in New Orleans. There are 2 opportunites for UQ-Onshore students to undertake placements at the Ochsner Clincial School in Year 4.
AHP Semester Swap
Further details about this process are in the 'Guidelines for Reallocation of Year 4 Placements between Australia and Ochsner', which can be found on the Key Guidelines webpage, under 'Allocation Guidelines and Handbooks'.
Pre-Approved Placements
Each year domestic and international onshore students in Year 4 have the opportunity to apply for placements at the Ochsner Clinical School, in New Orleans, Louisiana, through a pre-approved selection process. These placements are subject to availability, cannot be split, and must be taken in their entirety. Students can ONLY apply for blocks that correlate with their allocated placement pathway.
IMPORTANT - Students who are allocated placements at the Ochsner Clincial School will be required to provide further compliance documentation prior to starting placement. Further information can be found here - Clinical Placements at Ochsner
Medical Specialties Surgical Specialties & Critical Care
Elective | Y4 | UQ Ochsner Clinical School, USA | Open to all Students - priority will be given to students who can demonstrate an intention to practice medicine in North America |
Medical Specialties
You can see the available disciplines for 2024 placements here. If you are successful in gaining one of these places, you will be contacted at a later date by the Faculty's Work Integrated Learning (WIL) team with the list of available specialties for preferencing.
Surgical Specialties & Critical Care
Surgical Specialties (Orthopaedics & Ophthalmology) and Critical Care (Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Unit) are not placements in themselves, but a series of two and three week placements within the Advanced Hospital Practice Semester (depicted below).
Students will be provided the opportunity to undertake these placements at the UQ Ochsner Clinical School in New Orleans, Louisiana (subject to availability).
Elective
Disciplines available include Cardiology, Gastroenterology/Hepatology, Neurology, Renal Medicine etc. You can see the available disciplines for 2024 placements here. If you are successful in gaining an elective place, you will be contacted at a later date by the Faculty's Work Integrated Learning (WIL) team with a list of available specialties for preferencing.
2024 Availabilities
Specialty | Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | Block 5 | Block 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Medical Specialties OR PLC Elective | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
ED/Ortho | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Total placements per block | 9 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 7 |
Note: there are no available Ophthal/ICU/Anaes placements in 2024 at OCS.
Application
- Priority will be given to students who are committed to practising medicine in the United States or Canada (e.g. have been approved, have applied, or expect to apply to undertake medical licensing examinations).
- Students applying due to their desire and commitment to practise medicine in North America are required to supply supporting documentation.
- Students can ONLY apply for blocks that correlate with their allocated placement pathway.
- Students undertaking a placement at the OCS are responsible for all associated costs.
Applications Open: Midday Monday 25 September 2023
Applications Close: Midday Tuesday 3 October 2023
Apply here
(link will become active when applications open)
If you have any questions please contact med.placements@uq.edu.au