Structure of Year 5
There are four rotational eight week blocks and three Professional Practice blocks in the final year of the MBChB Programme. The Medical Elective block is one of the four rotational blocks. The essential requirement of the elective block is that a project must be carried out, written up and submitted for consideration and assessment by the electives’ advisers as an essential component of the Year 5assessment. Like all other parts of Year 5, successful completion of the elective is a pre-requisite for graduation.
During final year all students wishing to progress to the Foundation Programme will be required to complete FY applications and take the Situational Judgement Test (SJT). It is likely that the application process will take place in October with the SJT being early December and early January. Please bear these dates in mind when planning your elective as you will require internet access for the application process. The two SJT dates will enable students on elective in block 2 to sit the SJT in January (block 3) and vice versa.
Blocks
The timetable for each year is available at https://www.abdn.ac.uk/medical/electives/elective_information/page/52 You will have been sent information on your allocated section by email. Section swaps will be considered until end of February (of 4th year) but must be approved by the year 5 team (diane.gerrie@abdn.ac.uk). No swaps will be allowed after this time to ensure students have adequate time to finalise elective plans.
All students are required to complete at least one clinical block outside Aberdeen (medicine, surgery and/or GP/psychiatry). You should bear this in mind when planning your elective especially if you intend working during final year, as 16 weeks away may be more than you can afford to miss.
Setting
The project can be carried out almost anywhere you are interested in. This includes the North of Scotland (including Aberdeen and Inverness), other parts of the UK, or abroad. The choice of location is your own, although the University may advise, sometimes strongly, against electives in unsettled parts of the world or where student safety is an issue.
The elective lasts eight weeks. This time is designed to include a few days for travel to and from the host location. As the elective is a part of matriculated term time, attendance is expected during the entire eight weeks wherever the elective takes place. Students should note that the University is accountable for students as part of its duty of care during this time. Under the immigration regulations laid down by the UK Border Agency ALL students attendance will be monitored rigorously during the academic year, including whilst on elective. This, in turn, requires students to be accountable personally to the University for where they are and for work they are carrying out during that element of time-tabled activity. The University's Code of Practice on Student Discipline, https://www.abdn.ac.uk/infohub/study/student-discipline.php , paragraphs 3.1.11 and 3.1.12 clearly states the responsibilities a student has to the University. In practical terms, this means that it is inappropriate for the elective to be considered a vacation in whole or in part.
On the other hand, students should not extend their elective into vacation time either before or after the time-tabled block. In order to provide equity for all students, one criterion is that each student has the same amount of time in which to carry out his or her elective.
As each block is closely followed by the next, it is a requirement that elective reports are handed in on time to ensure you are able to focus on the part of the Programme that follows. It is not acceptable to hand in reports late for two reasons: first, it conveys an advantage to the “late” student who has had more time to complete the report than his or her colleagues. Second, doing elective block work in, for example, the medical block time, may well jeopardise attendance, leading to loss of learning opportunities in Medicine and difficulties arising from absence.
Sanctions, as indicated at https://www.abdn.ac.uk/medical/electives/elective_information/page/35 will be applied to any student who fails to meet the elective deadline, completes the elective outside the designated time or fails to accomplish the aims and objectives.