Primary Care

The approach adopted is highly innovative involving a focus on practice-based learning allowing students to gain academic credit directly based upon their practice placement or work-based experiences and reducing the need for additional attendance.

Proposed topics for study within the Primary Care programme include:*

• Dermatology
• Exercise medicine, public health
• Musculoskeletal medicine
• Occupational health
• Palliative care, pain management
• Pharmacology/therapeutics
• Respiratory medicine
• Sexual health, women's health
• Sports medicine, expedition medicine, international medicine
• Substance misuse, mental health, health psychology

Topics for proposed non-clinical units within the Primary Care programme include:*

• Business management
• ICT, informatics
• Learning and Teaching, training, supervision
• Law and ethics
• Leadership and change management

*Proposals may be subject to change.

Structure

There are three phases of the postgraduate programmes in Primary Care; students can choose how far they wish to go.

Phase One - Certificate
Based upon practice - work-based units based on trainee placement practice or GP practice.

Phase Two - Diploma
A selection of units based on a wide range of CPD units available across the University of Bath.

Phase Three - Masters
A 10 week ‘Research Project Design' unit followed by your individual, practice-based, research project.

Units from Phase One & Two can be taken at any time, and even concurrently. Once the student has been awarded with sufficient credits for the Diploma phase they can begin Phase Three and work towards the MSc.

Teaching and support

The online units focus on knowledge-based, activity-based and experiential learning and incorporate reflective, practice-based elements and ‘virtual clinics'.

The School's CPD units are delivered by online learning: creating the flexibility to study at any time over the course of the unit.

Other units from across the University may be studied on campus (sometimes at weekends or in the evenings) or by distance learning - pick & choose what's best for you.

Students receive support whilst studying each individual unit, and when that's a distance learning unit they can stay in contact with the tutors, staff and fellow students through our online learning environment. That's where students get access to all the learning resources, including full access to the University's library facilities.

Assessment

To gain accreditation for the learning, and to work towards a postgraduate qualification, students need to complete an assessment for each unit. For those who are just interested in the course content and not in the accreditation then there's no need to submit an assignment.

Assessments vary per unit and may take the form of a:

• Continuous assessment per unit
• Clinical and reflective portfolio
• Case study analysis
• Completion of a dissertation/practice based research project (MSc only)