Medical School

The qualities required to be a good are unchanging. This award-winning programme was made for a clinical course in 1984. 

We tackle a number of the serious challenges when meeting a patient for the time. Student reviews attest to it value, emphasising that some themes in medicine are timeless. 

The first sequence involves a consultation with an in-patient with an acute abdominal problem. It is only towards the end of the section that it becomes apparent that this is not how to go about it. Audience reaction has consistently shown this to be particularly effective. The interview is then re-run in a more appropriate manner. 

The second is an outpatient consultation going badly wrong and the consequences therefore. Again it is repeated, with the teaching points becoming self-evident. The third section shows how to undertake a rectal examination, presented in a straightforward factual manner. Students often feel uncomfortable in this situation and practical steps are suggested for how to manage. 

The final section concerns the approach to the patient for whom cure is no longer possible. It is very moving part of the whole programme and will generate discussion. At the end the surgeon makes a joke – is it appropriate or not? Experience has shown that the audience will be divided.