Course Related Information

What is Expected of a Medical Student?

Medical students have different responsibilities to other students, and you are expected to uphold professionalism and behaviour to a different standard; being a member of the medical profession begins on day one of your course. Please ensure you read the Medical Student Contract for what is expected from you. Please also find a useful document on Professional Values, Behaviour, Health and Entry into Medicine.

Dress Code

You will be working in different environments, both ‘academic’ (tutorials, library, lectures) and ‘clinical’ (clinical skills, placements, wards). For an academic situation you may find that casual, comfortable clothing is appropriate but in a clinical environment you will be expected to adopt the ‘bare below elbow’ approach.

You will undertake lectures and practical sessions in a laboratory environment and you will be required to wear appropriate protective equipment, including a laboratory coat. When on clinical visits and in clinical skills sessions, you will be required to wear surgical scrubs. Further information about dress codes and procedures in the various teaching environments will be provided to you as your course starts.

Working with Colleagues/Health Professionals

Throughout your time at Lincoln Medical School and beyond, you will work as part of multidisciplinary teams. Respecting the skills and contributions of other professionals is a must, along with following instructions given by health professionals in the workplace.

Although you will be learning and at times monitoring the health of others, remember to look after your own health. If you feel that your ill health will influence your standard of work or could affect patients and colleagues, speak to someone for advice and see a doctor.

Social Media

Social media has become part of everyday life but there are a few things to remember:

• Never post or send pictures of patients or service users over any form of social media
• Do not discuss issues related to any experience in a healthcare setting. Even if anonymised, these are likely to be inappropriate.
• Think before posting something you deem innocent; it may be offensive to someone else and have a detrimental effect on your future.
• Everything you post online is public.

Further social media guidance can be found below:

General Medical Council Social Media Guidance
https://www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance/ethical-hub/social-media

University of Nottingham Social Media Guidance for Medical Students
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/documents/medicine-policies/social-media-guidance.pdf

General Medical Council Good Medical Practice Guidance for Medical Students
https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/standards-guidance-and-curricula/guidance/student-professionalism-and-ftp/achieving-good-medical-practice

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones should be used appropriately and professionally. Using mobile phones can be distracting to teaching staff and it is advised that mobile phones are kept on silent or switched off during educational and clinical sessions.

Further information regarding professionalism and fitness to practise can be found here:

University of Nottingham Fitness to Practise Procedures
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/qualitymanual/2-documents/fitness-to-practise-procedure-mhs.pdf

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is Moodle, and you will need your university username and password to log in. Moodle will support your course, and each of your modules has an area that will contain teaching resources. You will be given access to Moodle during induction. There will be guidance materials available on Moodle should you need help familiarising yourself with the platform.

Student Feedback

Medical students have numerous opportunities throughout the year to feedback their thoughts and comments. Some of the ways you can let us know how we’re doing are:

• Through your student representative. There are vacancies for two student reps per year group, and these reps will attend school committee meetings. Here, they can share any suggestions or concerns their year group might have. You can contact representatives via email, face to face or via a platform from Lincoln SU called ‘Course-mate’. For more information, please visit: https://lincolnsu.com/course-mate.
  
  
• Through academic staff. Dr Rachel Woods is the Student Engagement Lead for the School and chairs the Learning Community Forum alongside student representatives. The forum takes place three times per academic year and student representatives will bring forward feedback from students to be discussed at the meeting. Dr Woods is also happy to be contacted directly by email at RaWoods@lincoln.ac.uk.
  
  
• Through the Student Evaluation of Module (SEM) system. For each module you undertake you will be asked to complete an anonymous online survey on a platform called Bluecastle. The results from this, along with the School’s responses, are available on Moodle.
  
  
• Through feedback surveys. There will be ad-hoc surveys where students are able to offer their feedback on specific areas or processes associated with the course. For example, there will be a ‘Pre-Arrival, Registration and Induction Feedback Survey’ sent to you a few weeks into your course.

Professor Danny McLaughlin, Associate Dean for Medicine at Lincoln has an open-door policy and welcomes students to get in contact with him directly should they have any queries or concerns. More information about how to contact him will be available at the welcome talk during Welcome Week.

MyNottingham Portal and MyNottingham App

Once you have registered, you will be able to access the MyNottingham Portal. This is where you should update your personal details such as your address, telephone number, and bank details. On the Portal, you can manage your fees and finances, add your bank details, and enrol into the direct deposit. This will enable you to receive any payments from the University that you might be eligible for such as scholarships, bursaries, or travel reimbursements.

You can also access the MyNottingham App, which may be useful to you when you visit the University of Nottingham campus. You will find that items such your timetable cannot be accessed via this app. You will receive further information on how to access Lincoln-specific information at the beginning of the term. The MyNottingham App is also where you will need to self-enrol on optional modules (if applicable) during your course which you will receive further communication throughout the year to let you know what you need to do.

Later in the course you may be required to use the MyNottingham app to look at your exam information and timetable. This will be confirmed to you during the academic year but would normally be updated around April. This platform is where you will also view your assessment results. Communications around this will be from University of Nottingham.