clinical skills

You might use a torso with slides inserted behind the eyes, to learn how to recognise different conditions.

Harvey, the cardiovascular 'patient', can imitate different illnesses at the touch of a button.

There are pads of skin-like plastic, to put drips in.

As a student here, you will learn practical skills and communication with patients right from the start, and the clinical skills facilities play an important part.

'You can learn to listen for things like heart murmurs and what they sound like. Once you have the basics learnt and practised on them, they are easier to recognise in a real patient.'

Zoe Harris, year 3

On one model (right), the pupils dilate. Its tongue swells up as in an allergic reaction, it breathes in a mixture of gases and combines them according to whichever physiology has been set, and it can be programmed to talk. Trainees can inject, intubate and catheterise the patient, give it oxygen or an IV, defibrillate or anaesthetise it, learning how to communicate with the patient and each other, and when and how to ask for a senior doctor's help.

'It's really good to be able to practise on these. You learn from your mistakes so getting a chance to try it out first is great.'

Dhivya Bangaru-Raju, year 2

Human actors come to mimic various illnesses, mental states and attitudes, so that you might be suturing plastic ‘skin’ but it will be attached to a real person sitting up in bed. The actor can then go over how you did, enabling you to become an effective history-taker and carer.