Your first year at Queen's Medicine will be divided up into Term 1 (September - December), Term 2A (January to March Break) and Term 2B (March Break to May). In addition to each term's courses (and their exams), there will be a few other items you will be expected to work on during the year. We have categorized those under the heading "Year Long."
Term 1
MEDS110 - Human Structure and Function 1
- Our fancy name for the anatomy, histology and physiology course that you take in first year. While it's helpful if you have taken anatomy, physiology or histology prior to this, many of your upper year colleagues have made it through without prior knowledge. This course includes weekly cadaver labs that focus on anatomy and histology. This course runs from September to mid-late October and is proceeded by Human Structure and Function 2.
MEDS111 - Human Structure and Function 2
- This is the second half of Human Structure and Function. This course runs from mid-late October to early December and is formatted the same as HSF1.
MEDS112 - Critical Appraisal, Research and Lifelong Learning (aka CARL)
- Statistics, epidemiology and appraisal of medical literature all rolled into one!
MEDS113A - Introduction to Physician Roles 1a
- Professional Foundations is ... you guessed it: teaching you how to be a medical professional! It involves topics such as law, ethics and professionalism. This course isn’t structured like your other courses, instead its components are predominantly experiential, such as the first patient program, observerships, interprofessional shadowing and community week!
MEDS114A - Clinical & Communication Skills 1
- See the clinical skills link for more details.
MEDS115 - Family Medicine
- By the end of this course you may or may not start diagnosing yourself, family and friends.
MEDS123 - Population Health
- Understanding health at a population level, and learning about public health approaches.
Term 2
MEDS113B - Introduction to Physician Roles 1b
- Continues to build on the law, ethics and professionalism material from term 1.
MEDS114B - Clinical & Communication Skills 1
- See the clinical skills link for more details.
MEDS117 - Health Determinants
- This course builds on Population Health from term 1, with a focus on how social, structural, environmental and commercial factors influence individual health.
MEDS120 - Mechanisms of Disease
- Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology intertwined.
MEDS121 - Fundamentals of Therapeutics
- Your introduction to pharmacology!
MEDS122 - Pediatrics and Genetics
- They aren't just little adults.
MEDS125 - Blood and Coagulation
- A strong introduction to the life of a hematologist.
Photo of lecturer holding pinata with writing "Meds 2028 Hemolyze me"
MEDS126 - Principles of Geriatrics, Oncology and Palliative Care
- Getting a taste of all three of these topics!
MEDS127 - Musculoskeletal
- A combination of orthopedics, rheumatology and some other interesting tidbits!
FSGLs - Facilitated Small Group Learning Sessions
- Sessions where you and your small group will work on problems that integrate the content taught in the different courses you’ll take with a facilitating physician.
Year Long
Introduction to Physician Roles
- A mixture of courses that aim to enable students to practice life long professional skills. This course includes sessions on Being a Medical Student (BAMS), medical Law, and Ethics.
First Patient Program
- A program where you and a partner follow a patient with a chronic illness in the Kingston community! This is a super meaningful program, and one that is unique to Queen's.
Community Week
- A one week family medicine placement you do at the end of your first year in a community setting outside of Kingston.
Observerships
- Opportunities for you to follow and work with physicians in their practices prior to your clinical clerkship to learn about the different specialties.
Clinical Skills
- A course that allows you to practice important skills needed in clinical practice such as physical exams and history taking. More on this in the clinical skills section!