Dublin, Ireland
About this course
As an accelerated four-year medical degree programme, from day one, Graduate Entry Medicine at RCSI is career-focused, with modules based on the systems of the human body, rather than traditional science subjects, and early clinical contact with patients in a hospital setting.
Now, 11 years on from the inception of the programme, we have 479 GEM graduates in 17 countries, contributing in a variety of different specialities and working in community, hospital, industry, research and academia.
Data has also shown that graduates of the RCSI GEM programme have performed as well or better than their counterparts in the direct entry programme, alleviating any concerns around the ability of students to be trained in a shorter time frame.
Read some of our current students and graduates stories below and discover how you too can become a future healthcare leader, through our Graduate Entry pathway.
Entry Requirements
There are a number of entry requirements you need to meet to be considered eligible for the GEM programme, but first you need to confirm your status as an Irish/EU applicant or a Non-EU applicant.
Curriculum
The four-year GEM programme is divided into three cycles:
- Junior Cycle (one year)
- Intermediate Cycle (one year)
- Senior Cycle (two years)
In the first year (Junior Cycle), you will be taught in a mixture of lectures on the biomedical sciences and small group teaching involving weekly cases, facilitated case discussions, data interpretation tutorials, clinical skills training, group projects and anatomy practical labs. You will learn to take and present a history from as early as the third week of the programme.
During the second semester, you will spend one half-day per week in one of RCSI’s clinical sites, and the last month of the academic year on a clinical attachment at one of the teaching hospitals affiliated to RCSI.
In Intermediate Cycle (year 2), you will be based full-time at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, which is one of the main RCSI-affiliated teaching hospitals in Dublin. In addition to lectures on pathology, microbiology and clinical sciences, you will also participate in small group tutorials (classroom or ward-based) on all aspects of patient care, including history taking, clinical examination, radiology, data interpretation and therapeutics. Two clinical attachments (each of one-month duration) take place at the end of each semester, providing you with the opportunity to become an active member of a clinical team within the hospital.
In Senior Cycle the majority of instruction is hospital-based teaching, where you will be attached to consultant-led (senior physicians) teams. In the third year of the programme, you will learn paediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynaecology, along with medicine and surgery. The final year of the programme concentrates on medicine and surgery.
Throughout your studies you will be provided with continuous appraisal, mentoring and case presentations on an individual basis, along with frequent reviews of your clinical progress with senior clinicians in the clinical years.