Year 1, 2 and GEM Early Clinical Debrief Facilitators
What are Early Clinical Debrief (ECD) sessions?
ECD sessions are delivered in small groups of five to six students in Years 1, 2 and GEM of the Manchester MBChB programme. Sessions are facilitated by the same GP for each semester, with each session lasting for 1.5 hours. The three key aims to ECD sessions are:
1. Debrief
Offering the students a supportive environment where they can share, discuss and explore their professional and clinical experiences from the first years of medical school.
2. Clinical reasoning skills development
Using recorded GP consultations and students’ own case histories to develop the thought processes behind formulating differential diagnoses. The supportive environment allows early exposure to authentic consultations where students gain insight into making clinical decisions in real-life scenarios to prepare them for clinical placement.
3. Communication skills development
Students undertake taught sessions in the consultation skills learning centre (CSLC) in the first years of the programme. ECD allows students to observe these in ‘real life’ consultations and consider practical application.
What the sessions involve
ECD tutors facilitate small group online sessions using the Microsoft Teams platform. In the first part of the academic year, students watch recorded GP consultations and undertake debrief and activities based on these. The first three sessions will take place between September and December.
The last session takes place in April/May, after the students have attended their GP placements. The final session is student-led and allows for facilitated discussion of their experience on Early Clinical Experience (ECE) placements.
Support for GPs
You will attend a half-day training session prior to starting your teaching, and have peer and senior support through a buddy group and ECD peer group from day one.
You are also encouraged to attend the annual Clinical Debrief Tutor Away Day and can work towards teaching awards through the Academy HE.
Dates for 2025-26
ECD runs between September to May. Sessions are available across the week on a variety of dates in term time.
Find out more
If you are interested in becoming an Early Clinical Debrief tutor, please contact us for more information.
Contact Us
+44 (0) 161 306 6000
