News

The creation of the Northern Beaches Clinical School provides an exciting opportunity for Northern Beaches Hospital to lead and contribute to quality clinical education and student experience.

To commence in early 2021, the Northern Beaches Clinical School will train students in the third and fourth (final) year of the Macquarie University Doctor of Medicine (Macquarie MD). Macquarie MD students will complete clinical placements in Critical and Acute Care (including Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care and Anaesthetics); Mental Health; Women’s and Children’s Health (including Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Paediatrics), and a variety of Medicine and Surgery disciplines.

Northern Beaches Hospital Director of Medical Services, Dr Peter Thomas, said the Northern Beaches Clinical School will offer world-class clinical training for Macquarie MD students.

“Northern Beaches Hospital is already training hundreds of junior medical officers. The Northern Beaches Clinical School will allow the hospital, in partnership with Macquarie University, to offer a comprehensive and innovative curriculum of learning and future career pathways for aspiring young doctors,” Dr Thomas said.

Macquarie University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Medicine and Health) and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Professor Patrick McNeil, said the Northern Beaches Clinical School was an exciting milestone for the Macquarie MD, providing high-quality clinical experience opportunities for students.

“The partnership with Northern Beaches Hospital builds on the success of the University’s affiliations with other clinical partners across Australia and abroad,” Professor McNeil said.

The Faculty’s Associate Dean, Clinical Partnerships, Professor Stephen Deane, said the affiliation will provide excellent clinical training opportunities for Macquarie’s medical students.

“It is exciting for Macquarie University to be joining with a new partner. Our collaboration with Northern Beaches Hospital will offer Macquarie MD students clinical experience in a range of private and public hospital clinical settings as well as access to some of Australia’s foremost clinical experts,” Prof Deane said.

“Our aim is to prepare doctors for work in different areas of health care and provide them with an excellent clinical experience. Our partnership with Northern Beaches Hospital will offer quality clinical education in one of Sydney’s newest and most innovative hospitals.

“This partnership is all about offering a range of strong clinical learning options, predominantly in the final year of the Macquarie MD, that will prepare medical students for their internships and to become excellent young doctors.”

The NBH Medical Advisory Committee Chairman, Dr Stuart Pincott, said the students will be an integral part of the team delivering exceptional care to our patients.

“We want students to feel like this is not the last year of medical school but the exciting first year of the rest of their career,” Dr Pincott said.