Medical Program Participation Guidelines
The Medical Program Participation Guidelines have been developed to support you to engage optimally with your learning in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program with your wellbeing in mind. The guidelines aim to:
- Clarify the expectations of you as a medical student in relation to participating optimally in the MD Program while preparing for future professional practice.
- Outline the flexible approaches available to you to prioritise your health.
- Inform you about the processes in place to enable you to manage absences.
The Medical School expects you to read these guidelines carefully, and that you will take responsibility to look after your health and manage your learning in accordance with these guidelines. The School encourages you to inform relevant personnel and to seek support early as outlined in these guidelines.
2. Participation requirements
The MD program is full-time with an expectation that you participate in all scheduled learning experiences. The timing of learning experiences that take place in the university or clinical environment will reflect the work schedule of the teaching or clinical teams involved. In the clinical environment when patient needs necessitate rescheduling of a clinical learning experience, you should be available to participate in rescheduled learning experiences as advised by your clinical unit.
In all years of the MD program, in addition to participating in scheduled learning experiences, you will need time to prepare for interactive sessions, study, reflect and proactively gain clinical experience and skills. As an indication the expectation is of a total study time of at least 40 hours per week, with some flexibility in terms of when self-directed study activity is completed. Your Electronic Course Profile (ECP) and other course related announcements will provide further details on course specific participation requirements.
You are expected to be on time for all learning experiences and remain present throughout the session. Late arrival or early departure is likely to inhibit your ability to adequately participate in the activity. The tutor or clinical teaching staff supervising the session will consider your punctuality and attendance in determining the quality of participation.
To comply with the Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1979 (Qld), you will be required to complete the mandatory Gross Anatomy Facility Induction to gain access to the Facility. Failure to complete the induction in the timeframe stipulated by the School of Biomedical Sciences will prevent you from meeting the participation requirements.
It is important that you take personal responsibility for managing your study life balance and plan all personal appointments, so they do not significantly impact participation in the learning experiences.
You are expected to notify the School of your absence (see next section) in a timely manner. It is also your professional responsibility to advise those affected by your absence as early as possible (for example: advising your tutors, clinical supervisors, clinical unit staff and peers where necessary). You may wish to discuss with the MD Learning Hub (Year 1) or your clinical unit (Years 2-4) on how to inform the relevant staff.
Your assessments will support your learning and it is important that you participate in the assessments at the designated times. If you experience unexpected illness or unavoidable circumstances, there are processes available to support you. Please refer to my.UQ and the ECP of the relevant course and contact your Course Coordinators and/or Course Administrators for further advice.
If you do not participate in studies due to prolonged absence or significant non-engagement, you are likely to require an interruption of studies. This is in line with the expected participation in medical schools across Australia. Academic guidance will be offered to you to support you through the process of interrupting your studies.
If you experience health issues that affect your ability to participate in your courses, you will be encouraged to focus on your health prior to returning to study when fit to do so. MD Learning Hub and Clinical Unit staff, Academic Guidance Leads and the Medical Student Support Team are available to support medical students during their program and their return to studies. For more information, please click here.