Third LKCMedicine exchange introduces new experiences

By Roxy Hughes, Collaboration Project Administrator

Narrowly missing the chaos caused by heavy snowfall, 22 LKCMedicine students arrived in London over the first March weekend. On Monday, Head of Learning Resources Dr Mike Barrett and I met the students at The Queen’s Gate Hotel, where they stayed for the week. From there, Dr Barrett led us on a tour around Imperial’s main campus at South Kensington, which included a visit to the London Office of LKCMedicine and the Royal Albert Hall, the famous 200-year-old concert hall which hosts Imperial students for their graduation. Students were introduced to Imperial and the National Health Service, before observing their first teaching session of the week in dissection.

At the end of a busy first day, Imperial staff and students joined the exchange students at an event in the Union Bar in the Students’ Union. Professor Mark Nelson, who is the Academic Lead for Collaborative Partnership Placements and in charge of the LKCMedicine electives at Imperial, joined us together with Mr Philip Paul Peters, First Secretary (Admin & Consular) at Singapore’s High Commission in London. Speaking to the students, Mr Peters said that given the large number of Singaporean students in London, he often hears exclamations of shiok around the capital.

Following the success of Team-Based Learning (TBL) at LKCMedicine, it is now being introduced to elements of the MBBS course at Imperial. For the first time as part of the exchange week, LKCMedicine students joined Imperial students to take part in a TBL session focusing on reproduction. Students worked together to answer questions and were able to discuss the similarities and differences between studying in Singapore and London.

Another element new to this year’s exchange was the opportunity to visit Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and experience teaching in a clinical setting. In order to familiarise them with the hospital the Clinical Teaching Fellows organised a treasure hunt for the students. When they returned to the hospital, the students were able to make their way from the teaching round to the x-ray meeting and grand round.

After a long day, Chair of Anatomy Professor Ceri Davies stepped into the shoes of tour guide, leading the students on a walk past some of London’s most famous sights and landmarks, before heading to The Old Operating Theatre and the Gordon Pathology Museum.

The week ended with a facilitated seminar, which offered students a chance to reflect on the week and provide feedback. But the final honours fell to the Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union, who put on a farewell social, where everyone got to relive the many highlights from the week.

We have really enjoyed hosting the LKCMedicine students and hope that the joint experiences from this week will continue to bring LKCMedicine and Imperial students together!