Northern Territory Clinical School, Darwin
The Northern Territory Clinical School (NTCS) was established as a joint initiative of the Northern Territory Government and Flinders University. The Territory government provides significant funding towards this collaboration with key aims being to attract quality medical staff and students to the NT and to improve Territory health outcomes. Each year there is provision for eight JCU students in each of Year 5 and 6 to be based in Darwin at the NTCS, enjoying a rewarding clinical and learning environment and tropical lifestyle.
JCU students at NTCS work alongside 8-12 students from Flinders University in Year 3 of their 4 year Graduate-Entry Medical Program. The NTCS will have its eleventh intake of Year 3 Flinders students in 2008, and its fourth intake of Year 5 JCU students. Year 5 JCU students spend twelve months placed at the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), rotating through 8 week blocks of Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Paediatrics and Women’s Health. Year 5 JCU students participate in a variety of teaching sessions with their Flinders University counterparts, including Problem Based Learning sessions, lectures, small group tutes and bedside teaching. JCU students link with their fellow JCU students weekly for Whole of Year videoconferences and receive regular visits from JCU academic staff throughout the year. Students also attend weekly general practice attachments in the urban area.
In Year 6, JCU students spend three terms based at Royal Darwin Hospital – Critical and Crisis Care, Aged Care and Rehabilitation and Adult Health 3. Students spend time in the following specialties: ENT, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, Renal, Rehabilitation, Geriatrics, Palliative Care, ICU, Emergency and Anaesthetics.
Although Darwin is a capital city, RDH services a large area of the Top End and has a diverse clinical mix which provides students with a fabulous opportunity to learn sound clinical skills and to practice in a multi-cultural environment. More than 50% of the hospital’s population is Indigenous, with other patients from neighbouring countries, providing learning opportunities in tropical, indigenous and cross-cultural health arenas. Almost all hospital clinicians are involved in teaching and students form an integral part of clinical teams.
Students in Darwin benefit from:
Low teacher:student ratios – students can expect to enjoy a lot of one-on-one time with academic staff. Clinical groups comprise at most four students attached to one discipline, with one student per hospital unit/team.
Excellent access to computing facilities – the NTCS has enhanced its computing capacity through the installation of wireless networking and additional computers.
For further details please visit the NTCS website at :