Medicine

Paediatrics is a post-graduate discipline, so if you are interested in becoming a Paediatrician you will first need to study Medicine. During your course, you will have plenty of opportunities to get involved with Paediatrics. This includes both formal placements in the hospital and community, as well as student-led activities such as the Shadowing Scheme, Project Play and many others. For more information about these, please visit the PaedSoc website. Towards the end of your medicine degree you can also opt to take selected components undertaking research with the Department.

Medicine at the University of Cambridge is read in the small and friendly Clinical School. There is a lot of information available on the experience of studying at Cambridge. To find out more you can follow the links below:

• Cambridge University Undergraduate Admissions
• School of Clinical Medicine information for Undergraduates
• Medicine at Cambridge

Before applying

Before applying to study Medicine, you may find it useful to gain some work experience to find out if the course is truly for you. This can be done in any medical specialty, including paediatrics. The Cambridge University Paediatric Society has put together some suggestions on how to get paediatric work experience, as well as more experience in working with children in general.

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General Information

The Cambridge Student pages contain a lot of helpful advice for current students, for example information on your first week in Cambridge, skill development, wellbeing, and life outside the University.

Teaching is managed via the Clinical School’s Virtual Learning Environment, named MedEd, for medical students.  Please login with your Raven account to use this service. MedEd contains a range of learning resources and information on the organisation of the course.

Undergraduate Teaching – Clinical Paediatrics

The highly popular paediatric training occurs during the clinical years of the course.

Students gain Paediatric experience in year 4 and, more particularly, in year 5 during their Child Health placement.

Each block in year 5 consists of 70 students who will spend 4 weeks within Paediatrics at Cambridge University Hospitals, as well as other regional hospitals. An Undergraduate Specialty Tutor (a consultant paediatrician) co-ordinates teaching in the local hospital in conjunction with paediatric colleagues. The focus will be in the area of acute and general paediatrics attending wards and clinics. However, the students will have an opportunity to experience all aspects of paediatrics, including neonatology and specialty paediatrics.

The clinical placement comprises a series of interactive lectures and small-group sessions, including history taking, developmental assessment, basic life support of children and infants, and clinical examination of infants and children.

Assessment at the end of the paediatric attachment comprises of the following:

• Grading of attendance, professionalism, and approach as a doctor by the Undergraduate Specialty Tutor
• Submission of a Critically Appraised Topic (CAT), marked independently by two separate examiners
• Online MCQ test
• A minimum of three Mini-CEX forms completed in the clinical setting on topics such as history taking, developmental assessment or newborn examination.

Departmental academic staff review all the examination marks, and an overall grade is awarded to each student. Prizes are available for students who have excelled at their CAT or have an outstanding ability with a strong interest in child health.

At the end of year 5, students sit their ‘Finals’ where they are examined in paediatrics. These finals include a written component and a clinical component that consists of Objective Structured Clinical (OSCE) and Simulated Clinical Encounter (SCEE) examinations.

Please note that the above information is subject to change and thus should only be used as guidance. For more information, please contact our Undergraduate Secretary at paedsundergrads@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Undergraduate Lecturers

Dr Emile Hendriks University Lecturer & Undergraduate Paediatrics Specialty Director

Dr Kathryn Beardsall University Lecturer

Dr Nazima Pathan University Lecturer

Dr Matthias Zilbauer University Lecturer

Dr Elizabeth Radford Clinical Lecturer

Further Study

As part of the medical course, you will have an opportunity to undertake further study on the MB/PhD programme. This is aimed at students that wish to experience both the clinical and the academic sides of medicine. You can choose whichever field you wish, including Paediatrics! If you would like to find out more, please visit the School of Clinical Medicine pages on the programme.

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