Medical Student Emergency Medicine Placement
Eight sessions linking supervised clinical learning, common presentations and examination practice.
For: Medical students on an emergency department placement.
Use the order below as a starting point. Select, reorder or repeat sessions to match the group’s experience and your department’s priorities. Send each learner-preparation link before the session and check the lesson’s review status and local guidance.
8 sessions in the suggested sequence. The timings below come from each lesson; paired practice may need additional time. Agree a suitable follow-up task with your supervisor after each session.
Starting your emergency medicine placement
Find your role in the team, agree supervision and plan what to learn from the placement.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide
On placement
Before your next shift starts, make sure you know who will review your work and how to reach them.
Asking for help and managing uncertainty — placement activities
Assessing and treating acute pain
Discuss pain assessment and explain an initial plan to your supervisor.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide
On placement
Return to one patient after analgesia and compare their comfort and function.
Assessing chest pain
Present a focused chest-pain assessment and discuss the important possibilities.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide
On placement
Ask which uncertainty remained when the clinician made the disposition plan.
Assessing acute breathlessness
Connect assessment of breathlessness with paired respiratory examination practice.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide · Paired practice
On placement
Explain why a particular investigation or oxygen target was chosen.
Assessing suspected sepsis
Discuss recognition of an unwell patient and when to call for help.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide
On placement
For one patient, explain why the clinician chose the urgency of treatment and next review.
Assessing a blackout or unexplained fall
Work through a blackout history and practise the cardiovascular examination.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide · Paired practice
On placement
Explain the strongest reason for reassurance or further assessment in one case.
Assessing acute back pain
Discuss back-pain cases, then practise the lower-limb neurological examination.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide · Paired practice
On placement
State which change in symptoms would make the patient need urgent reassessment.
Diagnostic testing: probability and clinical decisions
Use a numerical example to explain what a test result adds to an assessment.
Learner preparation · Facilitator guide
On placement
Follow the patient’s next assessment or investigation and compare it with your initial plan.
At the next meeting, compare what you observed and what you would do differently.
Read the educator’s guide for preparation, small-group discussion and feedback.