NHS clinical
internship
The world’s first virtual clinical internship designed to simulate medical school problem-based learning delivered by NHS clinicians and UK medical students.
Starts 16th March 2025
Delivered by physicians, surgeons and primary care doctors from:
NHS Clinical Internship
The world’s first virtual NHS clinical internship designed to simulate medical school problem-based learning curriculum delivered by NHS doctors.This truly unique opportunity will immerse you into thinking, working and speaking like medical students where you will work through realistic patient cases and conduct your first clinical consultation!
Why join?
Aspiring medics are often told that NHS clinical work experience is an essential component of their application for medical schools, we appreciate this is almost impossible for most international applicants. Many find themselves navigating a highly competitive landscape where traditional local clical work experience placements are limited, particularly in the current context of global health challenges. This scarcity often leaves international medical applicants at a disadvantage, and most struggle to find relevant experiences to bolster their applications. We have created this invaluable to bring the philosophy, medical ethics and healthcare processes of the NHS anywhere you are in the World!
A Truly Unique Opportunity
Our NHS Clinical Internship addresses this gap by providing a structured and accessible pathway for students to gain valuable insights, offering a comprehensive overview of clinical environments, patient interactions, and the day-to-day responsibilities of healthcare professionals. This programme provides students with a unique opportunity to engage with real-world scenarios, acquire valuable clinical skills, and develop a deeper understanding of the healthcare landscape through lectures, patient simulations, and tackling patient cases alongside fellow students in small problem-based learning (PBL) groups. The PBL curriculum is used in over 75% of UK medical schools, we will be giving you a taste of medical school teaching style to get a head start.
What is Problem-Based Learning?
Problem-based learning is an innovative and challenging approach to medical education. For the student, problem-based learning emphasises the application of knowledge and skills to the solution of problems rather than the recall of facts. The NHS clinical Internship utilises problem-based learning to provide pre-medical students with the tools and learning outcomes to start thinking and discussing like doctors. Students will be allocated into small groups to dissect a realistic patient case presentation. YOU will make important decisions on your patients investigations and management plans. We have further innovated the PBL curriculum by providing a simulated patient clinical consultation where students will engage with an actor patient to practice medical history taking skills.
For school students applying to study MEDICINE in the UK or internationally!
Why join the 9-week online Clinical Internship:
Start thinking, learning and speaking like a NHS doctor!
Delivered by practising NHS physicians, surgeons, primary care doctors and global health leaders.
Work in small groups with students from all over the world and build your team working and leadership skills.
Enhance your communication skills and practice taking a medical history with an actor patient.
Deliver a presentation to professors, doctors, and medical students, presenting your group patient case and strengthening your public speaking skills
Gain a competitive advantage by reflecting on your learning in your medical school personal statement and interview
Time commitment: 1 hour/week over 8 weeks. The programme has been refined to ensure that you can balance it with your important school and activities. All sessions are recorded if you miss sessions.
Certificates are provided
*Please note: All sessions will be 1h long and will be running on Saturdays, over 9 weeks. The sessions will be live via ZOOM and recordings will be provided if you miss any of the live sessions.
The structure of the NHS Clinical Internship
This nine-week NHS clinical internship is meticulously designed to immerse students in the world of medicine. The innovative programme comprises a problem-based learning model with a range of large and small group sessions and has been specifically tailored to the pre-med student who is aspiring to build a competitive application to medical school.
Furthermore, as this is an NHS-based placement, the insights and experiences gained here carry global relevance. The comprehensive understanding students will develop about this sophisticated system, its protocols, and patient care methodologies will be invaluable, no matter where in the world they choose to pursue their medical careers.
Representative timetable for the NHS clinical internship
Your first patient
Here's an example
Patient: Mrs. Smith
You are a medical student working in the emergency department. Mrs Smith, a 79-year-old lady, has
come in due to chest pain.
Over the last 4 days, she has had worsening central chest pain and persistent burning pain in her stomach. She has had the pain several times before, but this time her antacid tablets haven’t helped at all. She has also noticed soft black stools and has occasionally vomited with red-coloured contents. The pain continued this morning, and Mrs Smith felt sick enough to vomit again - this time, it was bright red. She became very worried and called the ambulance.
Now, her life is in your hands!
How does problem-based learning work?
Based on the example above, during the 8-week online clinical internship, the students will:
During the first 4 weeks, students will be prompted to start creating a list of medical, physiological and social issues for this patient and will summarise the questions they would like to ask to gain further information. This will include the history of this patient's issues, their other medical issues, current medications and how they are coping at home. This will be important as the following session will be with an actor patient, whom they will need to ask clinical questions to learn more about this patient!
Once they have obtained the relevant information from the actor patient, the students will then work together to narrow down a differential diagnosis list and the steps for investigation and subsequent management. The trained facilitators will be ensure that students consider the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the patient in this case to ensure a balanced approach.
Students Group Presentations!
The 8th and final week of the Clinical Internship will culminate with PBL groups presentating to our team of medical students and doctors. Students will have an opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and build their communication skills, critical thinking and practice leading discussions and asking clinical questions.
Images from the previous Live Clinical Simulation Work Experience
Delivered by physicians, surgeons and primary care doctors from:
Who is this NHS Clinical Internship for?
The clinical internship has been designed through an evidence-based method whereby all students from Years 9 to 13 can participate.
The primary aims of this course are to provide insight into clinical medicine and self-development with teamwork, leadership and communication skill development oppurtunities. These attributes are highly sought after by prospective medical school students.
The clinical internship is also ideal for the following:
-
Students who want to apply for a science-based subject but are unsure whether it should be medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or a health science subject. Immerse yourself into the clinical environment to discover what you really enjoy!
-
Students who are 100% sure medicine is the right choice for them and want to maximise their chances of applying for the most competitive Universities in both the UK and abroad, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, Harvard University, etc.
-
Students who want to develop their soft skills such as public speaking, confidence, and problem-solving.
*Limited seats. Sign up now!
How will this help with my university application?
Applications to medicine have been increasing year on year, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition has only further increased. This is because of talented, ambitious and hard-working students like you who want to make a REAL difference for patients and the health of society.
This means that gaining a competitive edge has never been more important. We understand that getting clinical work experience and hands-on teaching by doctors has been very difficult over the last 3 years, so we designed the Clinical Internship to offer the complete package of:
Experience and exposure in problem-based learning (PBL) methods used by the majority of UK-based medical schools. You can mention this in your interviews on your suitability to study at a PBL-based medical school.
LIVE clinical simulation work experience that is appreciated by a large number of medical schools globally.
Certificate of completion to evidence your participation.
Delivered by physicians, surgeons and primary care doctors from:
When is the NHS Internal Medicine Clinical Internship taking place?
Please note: All sessions will be a minimum of 1 hour in duration for the core content and will take place on Saturdays at 10AM UK time for the duration of 9 weeks.
When: 1h/week, starting 16th March 2025
The LIVE clinical simulation will be for a total of 9 hours, including breaks and reflective sessions.
Please see the timetable for the Internal Medicine Clinical Internship 👉:
Certificate provided
Receive a certificate of completion which you can add to your UCAS/College application.
Timetable
FAQs
Do I get a certificate?
Yes, students who participate in more than 80% of sessions will get a certificate of completion of the Clinical Internship course. Students are eligible for further commendation for excellence if they volunteer to be team leaders for their group and lead the public speaking case presentation.
What if I cannot attend all the sessions? Can I watch the recording of some of the sessions?
All sessions are recorded and uploaded. If students miss sessions due to other commitments, they can watch them in their own time and submit reflections to provide proof of course completion.
What if I cannot afford the placement?
We pride ourselves in offering widening participation and educational hardship grants; please contact us directly at info@medefine.org
I am interested in the research program, but I am worried that it might take too much time.
We don't want this internship to distract students from school work and have therefore designed it in a very flexible way where students only need to commit 1 hour per week (for 8 weeks) at their discretion.
What if the Clinical Internship has already started?
Students can contact us directly and be invited to join the LIVE clinical simulation work experience at the end of the internship and will be placed at the top of the waiting list for the next cycle of the internship
Step into the fascinating world of Clinical Medicine!
Delivered by physicians, surgeons and primary care doctors from:
