Hi everyone! My name is Danyal Ladha and I’m a 3^rd year medic here at Newcastle. In this post, I’m just going to tell you a little bit about how the first two pre-clinical years are structured.

Year I

The first year of medical school consists of the following modules:

• Molecules to Disease: biochemistry, genetics, basic cellular physiology – this is essentially a review of A-level concepts
• Life Cycle: focused around pregnancy and male/female reproductive health
• Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Prescribing: introduction to pharmacology and basic pharmacology of the main conditions you cover over the year (done in second semester)
• Nutrition, Metabolism, and Endocrinology: the name says it all – you will cover all the physiology of nutrition including biochemistry (i.e. glycolysis, Kreb’s, B-oxidation, etc.) and also learn about the liver, pancreas, stomach, etc. This was one of my favourite modules!
• Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and Renal Medicine: this is the favourite in first year for most people! In this module, you’ll learn about the heart, kidney, lungs, and do a bit of haematology (anaemia, blood clotting, etc.)
• Patients, Doctors, and Society: this module involves all the communication skills, ethics, sociology, etc. and is quite dry in all honesty. Not people’s favourite…

In first year, you also have a few written assignments, the biggest of which is the Family Study. You, along with 2 classmates, are paired with a pregnant woman in the community and visit her at her home to discuss her pregnancy, both before and after it. You then have to write a bio-psycho-social report on your patient.

Year II

In second year, the first semester is mainly one module: Thoughts, Senses, and Movement. This sounds like it’s about your emotions but it’s actually the most intense module of the first two years – in it you do a bulk of the anatomy (including neuroanatomy and musculoskeletal stuff – upper and lower limb) and all of the neuroscience. It is a favourite for some but those who dislike neuroscience and anatomy have a hard time with it. I personally enjoyed it quite a lot!

In the second semester, the modules are as follows:

• Clinical Sciences and Investigative Medicine: pathology, immunology, microbiology, virology – this is dry at times but also quite interesting to learn about how all the different bacteria/viruses can infect the body. You also learn about cancer and systemic diseases.
• Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Prescribing: pharmacology centred around microbiology, cancer, and neuropharmacology
• Patients, Doctors, and Society: this is continuous throughout the first two years and will be there to haunt you every semester. Enjoy!
• Life Cycle: in second year, this is more focused on ageing

In second year, you do a Patient Study, which is similar to the Family Study but with a patient with a chronic illness. You also have an assignment called a Student Selected Component in which you do a research paper on a topic of your choice.

Something important to mention is that there is a module called Clinical Skills and Communication which runs throughout the first two years – in it you learn all the important clinical exams such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, taking blood, blood pressure, etc. You get to practise these on volunteers which allows you to practise your bedside manner and professionalism as well. I had to mention this because early clinical experience is one of Newcastle’s strengths!

I hope that was an informative overview of the first two preclinical years! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at d.ladha@newcastle.ac.uk.

Danyal Ladha