Let's get physical: UL's graduate programme

The UL graduate medical programme has been described as "a new age in medical education in Ireland" because of its emphasis on a delivery technique known as Problem Based Learning (PBL) and its focus on law, ethics, psychology and management as well as the basic sciences.

"The way PBL works is that you go in on a Monday and you're given a case. We go and research what things could make this happen and what are the possible causes," says graduate medical student Anne Grace. "You're not just given the information on a plate. You have to figure it out for yourself. You have a much better chance of retaining the information that way."

Indeed in their first week, students had to deal with a case involving a patient with hearing difficulties so while they were working in teams towards a possible prognosis, they learned about the anatomy of the ear, mechanisms of hearing and how to use the instruments.

President of UL Don Barry says: "We believe Ireland needs new and creative programmes to educate future generations of Irish doctors and we have identified the most progressive educational programmes from leaders in the field throughout North America, Australia and the UK."

The curriculum is one that has been tried and tested in the medical school of St George's University of London, which is recognised as a leader in the PBL approach to education.

So far, the students approve. "At the moment we're practising clinical stuff like taking histories from patients," says Eimer O'Malley. "We're already learning how to talk to patients which is great. One of the lecturers was telling us that when he started out as an intern he went around with a list of all the questions he had to ask patients in his pocket. We're picking up those skills now so hopefully we won't have to think about it by that stage."

With its emphasis on team work and the existing knowledge of the students, PBL is an approach that seems very much suited to a postgraduate environment. Damien Ferguson explains: "If you were coming straight from school to PBL, I don't think you'd cope. At least now we know how to research, how to use the library, how to read journals and all that."

"You need a bit of knowledge to begin with and if everyone is coming with Leaving Cert physics and biology it wouldn't really work," O'Malley agrees.

"I find it's amazing what you can tease out of people," says Simon Kelly. "Someone will say something that jogs your memory and you remember things that you didn't know you knew."

Anne Grace believes that the PBL approach would suit people from a non-science background more than the traditional one, but it is a judgement call. "There's a big decision to make about what kind of learning you prefer," says O'Malley,

"This programme is definitely more like an apprenticeship," says Carr. "We still have to learn all the same things as they do in the traditional course. It's just delivered in a more interesting way."