Phase 1 medicine placements supervisor information
This page gives all the information you need for year one and year two (or phase one) primary care placements.

In this phase, the focus is on exposure to primary care and the multidisciplinary team. During the placements, students will expect some face-to-face teaching and shadowing opportunities.
These do not need to be delivered on every occasion by the named educator. To broaden students' experience, we encourage other members of the primary care team to deliver these. For example, this could be the nurse practitioner or practice manager.
Along with medical students, this cohort includes learners on the undergraduate physician associate course. These students learn alongside the Phase 1 medical students for the first two years of the course, before joining the postgraduate PA students for their final two years to complete the learning outcomes for physician associates. During their time with you in phase one their learning outcomes are the same as the medical students. There should be no difference in activity opportunities offered. The physician associate learners will present in a maroon uniform which distinguishes them from the medical students.
Introduction into practice
To orientate students to the practice team and practice areas. This includes student safety and clarifying learning outcomes for the placement.
Below are the updated Phase 1 MSQC learning outcomes for placements. These are generic and should be fulfilled by the end of placements in Year 2. They are mapped to the GMC: Outcomes for Graduates Document and replace the previous placement learning outcomes.
- Demonstrates understanding of patient safety, confidentiality, and consent during placement interactions.
- Displays compassionate and professional behaviour with both colleagues and patients, maintaining politeness, integrity and trustworthiness.
- Acts inclusively and respectfully with patients and colleagues, understanding cultural diversity in patient interactions.
- Familiarises themselves with the role of a GP and the other multidisciplinary team members within the Primary Care setting.
- Describes the structure and function of Primary Care within the NHS and understand how health and social care interact
- Identify features of effective team working and how this can impact patient care.
- Learns who is involved in the management of patients who are nearing the end of life and how they are involved in their care.
- Communicates clearly and sensitively with patients, carers, and colleagues considering the principles of patient centred care.
- Obtains a range of histories from a patient, their relatives, carers or other advocates.
- Observes and apply communication skills, such as active listening, empathy, non-verbal skills, and exploring patients’ ideas, concerns, and expectations.
- Integrates the principles of basic and clinical sciences to patient assessment and initial management.
- Learns about and practises clinical reasoning skills when eliciting a medical history noting illness scripts, observing clinical signs and performing clinical examinations under appropriate supervision.
- Collects and accurately documents a patient’s medication history, including allergies and interactions.
- Summarises the pharmacology, risks and benefits of commonly used medications including their indication, potential side effects, and monitoring.
- Calculates safe and appropriate medication dose.
- Generates a safe and legal prescription utilising the BNF.
- Describe the role of clinical pharmacists in making decisions about medications.
- Explains how the principles of health, illness, and preventive care, including lifestyle factors that influence health, translate into ‘real- world’ settings.
- Recognises how environmental, social, and psychological factors affecting a patient’s presentation, identifying initial options for patient support.
- Applies knowledge of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in Primary Care and how this informs services e.g. screening and immunisation.
- Justifies the rationale behind selecting specific investigations for the common diseases seen in Primary Care and other placement settings.
- Staff induction and review of handbook together
- Interview with a member of the Community / Primary Care Team about their role
- Sit in the waiting room, observe and reflect on patient experience at reception
- Observe and, if workable, undertake simple tasks in reception area under observation
- Writing up notes, students should attempt to generate hypotheses about:
- possible health problems
- other problems
- opportunities for the practice
- Debrief with GP /Practice Manager
- Take patient observations
- Take a history from a patient including Ideas, concerns and expectations.
- Be given the opportunity to examine a patient under supervision
Practising phase 1 clinical skills during placement
Please see the student workbook for further information regarding expectations.
- Take a focused history from a patient to seek ideas, concerns and expectations and reflect on that encounter in the workbook. This could be within the consultation with the clinical supervisor or in a separate room with time set aside for debrief.
- Perform a Primary Care focused examination on a patient with direct clinical supervision and reflect on that examination in the workbook.
- Palpate the radial pulse on 5 patients under direct clinical supervision and comment on rate, rhythm and volume. Documents the findings in the workbook.
- Take a history from a patient and present it to the clinical supervisor with time set aside for debrief. Reflect on that encounter within the workbook.
- Perform at least two Primary Care focused examinations with direct clinical supervision and reflects on those examinations in the workbook.
- Take sets of observations from 5 stable patients such as those attending for chronic disease reviews. To include manual blood pressure readings, pulse rate and rhythm, pulse oximetry and, if available, urinalysis. Documents the findings in the workbook
Overview of topics covered in phase one
Clinical skills
- Cardiovascular examination
- Respiratory examination
- Abdominal examination
- Cranial Nerve examination
- Neck examination.
- Cardiovascular examination
- Respiratory examination
- Abdominal examination
- Cranial Nerve examination
- Neck examination
- Peripheral nervous system examination
- Peripheral vascular examination.
Communication skills
- Introduction to clinical communication skills
- Non-verbal communication
- Gathering information techniques (open v closed questions, signposting and summarising
- Cardiovascular, respiratory, GI and pain histories
- Other elements of the medical history (e.g.PMH, PSH, social history, FH)
- Closing the consultation
- The systems review in the medical history
- Lifestyle History and simple Lifestyle Advice
- Communication in special circumstances (sensory impairments, transgender culture)
- Introduction to breaking bad news
- Introduction to specific clinical history taking, for example sexual history, gastrointestinal, respiratory, endocrine
Portfolio requirements
Clinical places learning logs
Students are encouraged to complete two clinical cases learning logs. This will be carried out during Year one May/June placement from patients they see during their time with you.
This is not mandatory, as it lies outside their assessment period. If they do, they will get feedback from their year two Portfolio Tutor later.
They have a template to prompt them to think about the medical/clinical learning they can derive from seeing patients. It would encourage them to use this as a learning tool if you asked about it or suggest suitable cases.
Reflective practice
Students complete one reflective piece in year one, this is on the theme of ‘Talking to a patient [simulated]’.
Clinical cases learning logs
Students are required to complete three clinical case logs in Year 2. One can be observation of another HCP, at least two must be performed by the student themselves.
They are encouraged to see more, as it is a very useful learning tool, that focuses their placement experiences. It helps them to learn to think like a doctor and PA.
Students have a template (Excel Spreadsheet). This will prompt them to think about the medical/clinical learning they can derive from seeing patients. Please encourage them to use this as a learning tool and suggest any suitable cases. You don’t need to assess them. This is done by their Portfolio Tutors.
Reflective practice
The students are expected to write one mandatory reflective piece based on “communication with a patient”. This will be assessed by their portfolio tutor.
Workbooks
Primary care placement workbook
The students have specific workbooks to complete on placement and they may ask the practice team questions to be able to answer challenges in the workbook. They should show their supervisor the completed workbook at the end of placement review to demonstrate they have engaged with the workbook. You do not need to check if the content is correct.
Tasks the student should undertake and record in their workbook include:
- Take a focused history from a patient to seek ideas, concerns and expectations and reflect on that encounter in the workbook. This could be within the consultation with the clinical supervisor or in a separate room with time set aside for debrief.
- Perform a Primary Care focused examination (list below) on a patient with direct clinical supervision and reflect on that examination in the workbook.
- Palpate the radial pulse on 5 patients under direct clinical supervision and comment on rate, rhythm and volume. Documents the findings in the workbook.
Primary care workbook
The students have a mandatory workbook to complete whilst on placement. The aim of this workbook is to help their learning throughout the module and to improve their understanding of primary care. We hope the workbook will help structure their learning about the important role of each member of the primary care team. Also how we serve the community we look after.
The workbook will ask the student to reflect on the different patient interactions they observe. They will be asked to focus some of these reflections on the different consultation styles that they experience. They will also be introduced to chronic disease management in primary care. This will include some focussed learning on some conditions.
This workbook does not need to be assessed or marked by the GP supervisor. We do ask that the supervisor ensure that they have engaged with the workbook and tick the box on the placement e-form.
Example timetables
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Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
9am - 10:30am | Welcome and induction | Observe admin team | Observe GP clinic (chance to examine) | Observe Practice Nurse clinic (chance to examine) |
10:30am - 12 noon | Spend time in reception | Observe HCA/Phlebotomy clinic (take obs) | Structured history taking with patient (ICE) | Spend time with practice management team |
12 noon - 1pm | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
1pm - 2:30pm | Home visits with visiting clinician | Spend time with Clinical Pharmacist (or other allied health care professional) | Spend time with prescription team and discuss recall system |
Home visits with visiting clinician |
2:30pm-5pm | Observe GP clinic | Observe Practice Nurse clinic and time to ask questions | Spend time with other allied health care professional if available e.g. midwife/mental health | Observe GP clinic and then time with GP Supervisor to complete end of placement form |
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Time | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Morning | Welcome and induction | Spend time in reception | Observe GP clinic | Observe GP clinic |
Morning |
Spend time in waiting room. Sit in with Practice Manager. |
Spend time with admin/prescription team |
GP clinic/home visits | GP clinic/home visits |
Afternoon | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
Afternoon |
Observe a clinic with ARRS team member (Ideally clinical pharmacist) |
Observe clinic with practice nurse for chronic disease management (eg Asthma clinic) |
Observe HCA Clinic |
Observe clinic with ARRS team member or practice nurse |
Other suggestions | Talk to ARRS team members to find out about their role | Invite to any practice meetings (eg GSF meetings) | Spend time with expert patient | Day 4 placement form completion (can be completed remotely if necessary) |
These are examples of timetables. Each placement should develop their own timetable based on the make-up of their practice team.
We would like the students to spend time with a variety of members of the primary care team. So they can start to develop an understanding of the importance of patient care. If appropriate, please include students in any practice/multi-disciplinary team meetings.
The precise length of the student day is somewhat flexible. Not least because it may be constrained by travel requirements. But, it is intended to be eight hours with time for breaks (for example, 9am to 5pm). Students are required to attend every day and this needs to be signed off by the practice in the students’ portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
Portfolio ‘Pebble Pad’
All students have an e-portfolio using a software platform called Pebble Pad. This can be accessed via their tablets or on any PC with access to the web. Students go out on primary care placement, in the second semester of year one. At this point they are already conversant with the portfolio system and its contents.
Each student has a designated portfolio tutor for the year. The tutor will regularly read their entries and provides constructive feedback. The portfolio is part of the formal assessment of the course and is assessed both formatively at mid-year and summatively at year end.
Students are encouraged to share their portfolio with you as their GP Tutor, although this is not mandatory. GP Tutors do not have direct access into the portfolio system. If a student wishes to share theirs with you the best way is to sit down together and to show you round their portfolio.
There are several phase one portfolio inclusions relevant to the Primary Care elements of the course which are detailed below. It is not the responsibility of the GP Tutor to assess or provide feedback on portfolio pieces created during placements. But informal advice and constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Placement completion e-Form
You should fill out the e-form when the student has completed their placement to a satisfactory standard. For example, related to attendance, punctuality and engagement.
The student will complete a brief reflective element about their time on placement. They will, ideally, complete this on their pebble pad with you on their final day of placement. Or if this is not possible, send you the form to finalise.
You will get an email with a link:
- Click on ‘Finalise’ (bottom right of the e-form).
- ‘Complete’ (follow the prompts of the pop-up window).
Please make sure you complete this within 1-2 weeks. The student is unable to progress into the following year without it.
If a student is unable to attend, they are expected to:
- Email their phase one or two officer
- Email the Medicine Placements Team
- Telephone the practice before the start time of their scheduled activities
If your student doesn't turn up and and you have not been informed of their absence inform the Medicine Placements Team as soon as possible so we can make sure that they are safe.
If you have concerns about a student’s attendance, please issue a professionalism development opportunity via completion of an event form. The event form system has options for wellbeing and safety, and professionalism lapses.
Choose whichever one you feel is most appropriate for the situation as you understand it. This will then be dealt with by the Professionalism, Wellbeing and Safety Tutor or Lead for Professionalism who will take appropriate action.
Please be assured that all students will have had a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check by the University prior to being allowed to attend placement. The student will have a copy of this, and we ask they have this available if you need to check.
The students also must complete the E-Learning for Health module for their year group. This includes safeguarding adults and children level 2 and resuscitation.
Please send out an email to the student introducing them to the practice and include a timetable if possible. Set out the expectations for the first day including expected time of arrival and the practice address (this is especially important if the practice has more than one site). Perhaps include some travel hints if necessary.
Further information
The school will work with disability placement leads to make reasonable adjustments for students with a disability. For more information please see: ‘Support for Students with disabilities – Guidance for Clinical Placement Staff.’
The Medical School encourages students in direct contact with vulnerable patient groups to:
- Get a yearly immunisation to influenza
- Be immunised against COVID-19
Influenza vaccinations are available for students from October via the Student Health Centre at UCLan. As a placement provider if you can offer these to students, we would welcome this.
Student feedback is essential as it enables us to monitor and improve what we do. We are also required to submit such data to our regulatory body, the General Medical Council.
In phase 2, student feedback gets collected via four methods:
- Clinical Module Evaluation Form – students will get asked to complete this at the end of every clinical module or sub-module. Questions will cover all aspects of the module including campus day and placements (including GP).
- Module evaluation questionnaire – these get administered at the end of the academic year. The questionnaire covers all aspects of the programme over the entire year.
- Staff Student Liaison Committee – this meets each term and issues are brought to the meeting by the student representatives.
- Unitu – this is an online platform that allows students to raise issues and propose solutions for the school to consider.
All feedback can be anonymous if desired.
Feedback is part of students’ professional responsibilities and is not an optional activity. Students are encouraged to give constructive feedback rather than just critical.
Students will be informed about any actions taken based on feedback via the Staff Student Liaison Committee and through the twice yearly “You Said, We Did” sessions.
If there is any important feedback relating to a GP placement, a GP Tutor from the Work-Based Learning Team will discuss this with the practice involved.
You will receive a copy of the feedback from the students after each placement which should be useful for planning of future placements.