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MBCHB2 Y2 Virtual Clinical Experience, (2026 - 2027)

Schedule Comments Summary (optional)

Do you have any specific feedback regarding the VCE sessions: what worked well; what didn’t work well; how could the session be improved?

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I think the idea is a sound one. I've had the benefit of sitting in on multiple GP sessions on the run up to starting this course so personally, these sessions are of little value to me but for everyone else, I think it really is a worthwhile resource. Unfortunately, even when I logged in to the session, the connection was so weak that it failed to even load a picture, it was stuck on the 'Waiting for clinician to start' screen. I was lucky in that tech issues were widespread and so the session was run on the lecture hall screen. An improvement could be to run all these sessions using e.g., the lecture theatre screen/computer but significantly reduce the number of students in each session, make them tutorial sized. This would make it a lot more comfortable for students to speak up and submit questions. With improvement this could be a good session to run with 1st/2nd years, perhaps alternating with our in-person GP sessions.
I liked the lecture theatre environment, it was engaging and very helpful to see GP consultations broadcasted live from the lecture theatre screen.
Excellent concept, however, separating groups into tutorial size (5-8) - all of which still viewing the same live stream - would foster a better environment for discussion.
I enjoyed a session
Was a struggle to log onto the platform due to the poor wifi/signal in the room so I couldn't access it on my own device. Not necessarily a problem with VCE though.
What worked well : - ability to watch live consultations without awkwardly standing in the corner of the room - lecturer being able to explain/ add info during the consultation without disrupting the flow what worked bad: - huge amount of people crowded in a small lecture theatre - wifi didnt have the bandwidth to withhold that - no need to for everyone to log in separately if we just watched it on the lecture screen - could have been done at home - bottle necking at the sign in sheets - debrief felt rushed and bit scattered overall its a great idea from the standpoint of not causing interruptions and awkwardness during the consultation. Good method for being a fly on the wall during the consultation
I feel that this session is a needed alternative if we are not allowed to actually be in GP consultations with the Gp and the patient in person. The learning would be far greater and more beneficial if you can be in the consultation in person and being able to catch the small things GPs do in there speech and body language that is so important in the GP setting. Also the ability to ask questions with greater learning potential if we are able to ask the GP your own questions and for them to answer them. To conclude this style of VCE session would be useful perhaps in the early days of first year to give them a look into what a GP consultation is like but it is far from good enough to replace the GP live sessions in the General Practice surgery and even that is far below the usefulness of being in the GP shadowing clinications.
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having a prior notes to read like a patient's medical background and a source to read about the diagnosis or disease, would have helped more in being able to engage during session and use the most of it.
Reviewing the consultation with the GPs in the lecture hall was very useful to break down certain aspects of the consultation including medical and social themes. On the other hand, hearing more from the GP carrying out the consultation about their thoughts and clinical judgement as a reflection on the consultation would have made it even better e.g. why they chose a specific medication, why they chose to review them in a certain time frame, what are they writing and coding in the notes and why is that important?
Very engaging and provided a large but relevant amount of information
The chat function did not really work. the group size made it intimidating to ask questions. session was useful but it was not that content dense. I would have preferred doing the session in our gp groups from home via video conference.
I believe it would have been better if It was in a smaller groups, so discussion and asking questions are better facilitated. Doing it in such a large group is not a great experience. How come the GP consultation seems so much longer than the reality of some GP practices? I went to the GP and gotten cut off after 10mins, I don't know if this is setting the wrong expectation/experience if it is based on a rural setting? I would have been better if the equipments worked.
I think it would be beneficial to tell students that VCE won’t work on safari browsers as I did the professionalism fine on safari and then when I got to VCE it said wouldn’t load on safari. It was handle well by the Dr’s leading the lecture though and I never missed anything. I think smaller groups would have encouraged more student interaction but again that’s not on the lecture itself just students can be awkward about answering questions. I did feel it was really interesting and helped show real consults I feel it was super valuable and should definitely be used again maybe with just a couple tweaks. Also the lecture theatre was very hot which I feel made students struggle to pay attention to the 4th patient. Also, the audio was difficult to hear at times too quiet. However these are just little points overall it was a great experience and I felt I learned a lot. Thank you!
Overall really good concept, the tech needs better investment along with camera quality. Platform difficult to navigate. Lecture theatre was also like a sauna so made staying focussed difficult
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Tutors were aware of the difficulties logging onto the platform. Lecture theatre was far too warm. Overall I found it extremely helpful and worthwhile.
Really good session but just too many people so hard to ask questions. I understand the chat function reduces anxiety about asking questions but because of issues with logging in, most people weren’t on the call and able to type in the chat
The platform worked well but the lecture location did not work as well as the signal was very poor and I couldn’t get any WiFi or data signal in that particular room meaning I couldn’t easily log on to the platform. The group lecture environment worked well and the consultations were a good idea and worked better than GP live I feel. It was a good variety of patients which allowed for viewing of different consultation styles as well and approaches from the GP. Altogether it was a good learning experience but was let down by the technical problems which prevented the session running smoothly.
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engagement throughout the sessions proved difficult due to the poor wireless internet meaning you were relying on the main computer & audio. Couple this with a high number of students in near proximity either completing unrelated work or browsing their weekly shop/holidays in addition to the lad hosting the session putting his answers into chat prior to the conversation section (so no thinking required) meant the experience was quite underwhelming. The potential is clear to see but the f2f GP sessions going over consultations in small groups where its harder to "skive" and discussion and participation is mandatory is notably superior across all levels.
I don't think doing this in such a large group worked; it felt very impersonal for both the patient and us, it was very distracting, and the technology didn't work as well as I think it would've done in a small group.
There were environmental factors outwith the VCE experience itself to consider; namely the kind of lecture theatre (Polwarth 0.254 was unsuitable) and space provided, and the temperature was a big issue. Secondly, the VCE experience itself - the sound quality was poor - perhaps headphones/earphone could have improved the experience. Registering was not straightforward and required google chrome which many people did not have downloaded and then could not download as there was no wifi or signal available in that lecture theatre. The poor sound quality meant it was hard to stay engaged. 4 patients was too much in such a large session. People chatting during the session was disruptive. This would have benefitted better in a tutorial setting, more engagement and discussion. I understand it is a new trial and that there will be point to consider/teething difficulties. However I do not see the benefit of this being carried out in a lecture theatre as opposed to a tutorial room as tutorials provide greater freedom and depth of discussion. I also believe more structure should underpin the sessions with questions throughout students need to fill out rather than vague comments about how the session went. I definitely think it has potential and appreciate the work that went into it - I also thought our GP was excellent. It was just a shame it was so hard to be engaged.
I liked the session, but I think it may have been a bit long, particularly as it was held in a lecture room that was quite hot. The platform was also glitchy and wouldn't keep up with the session, which made it difficult to stay engaged, especially since I was rather far from the front.
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Joining through a tablet was rather difficult, so a physical registration was definitely appreciated
I do not feel anything has been gained from using the VCE platform - it may as well have been done at home. If it was used in tutorial groups, I feel it may as well have been a pre-recorded consultation that was discussed with our GP tutors as was the structure of the GP session last week. The platform didn't work in the lecture theatre partly due to bad wifi access in the polwarth lecture room - I could not access the teaching session on my device even though I did perform the prep work and professionalism course well in advance as it just wasn't available when I logged in.
the wifi speed in the lecture hall is too slow for a full lecture theatre worth of people all to be using VCE. no one could effectively connect. Only solution I can think of other than getting better internet is allowing us to join the sessions from home, although i did enjoy the lecture theatre environment.
Very useful and interesting session - was a big fan generally!
i found the session really interesting and I enjoyed it however i felt like due to the number of people present it wasnt possible to be as interactive as it would have been in a smaller group
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I think the session would have been more effective if done in smaller groups where discussion of the topics would be easier and without all the distracting noise. The technical side of the platform has been less than perfect, the stream on my device was frozen for most of the session due to ''bandwidth''. A more focused, smaller group sessions could work, but in such large group the session was not as effective in engagement. But the platform is an interesting venue for bringing live consultations, providing a more accurate depiction of what to expect when working or training as a GP. With some adjustments VCE can be a great platform for learning.
I thought the format was very good, and helpful with getting a good idea for how GP consultations would happen in the real world. I enjoyed the discussions afterwards and found they offered good insight into how each GP does things differently and the different common conditions depending on the area. However, I found the session a bit too long, and found by the end my attention and desire to engage decreased, due to the length of the session. I feel as though we would've understood, and learnt, just as much from having maybe 3 patients instead of 4, or something along those lines.
I thought it was very good, very helpful and interesting, but I think its the thing you wouldn't do too often, I think doing it in the big groups is better because then you can have a proper discussion about it after and hear from GPs who were in the room with us.
The website could take a while to load up, because of too many people using it at the same time, meaning a lot of people could not log into the session in the outlined way
It worked well to have it on the large screen, as many of the personal devices would freeze during the consultation, and there was no way to continue watching. So it was good to have the consultations on the large screen and I think it kept more people engaged!
Having it up on the big screen worked really well, it meant that everyone could hear and see the session, even if their devices weren't working
Very long session. If it was 1 hour would have been good
QR code didn’t work properly, took me a while to finally figure out how to join the session from my own device
I liked the use of the additional cameras to demonstrate examination findings more closely, and I think features such as being able to listen to heart and breath sounds through the electronic stethoscope would be great when the technology works. The main difficulty was the audio. It was often very difficult, and at times impossible, to hear what the patient was saying, even when the volume was increased. This made it difficult to follow the consultation fully and stay engaged. If possible, having a microphone positioned closer to the patient or another way of improving the patient audio would make a difference. I think this type of teaching would work better in smaller tutorial groups. There were difficulties accessing the VCE platform when a large number of students were trying to log in at once. I was unable to access it which meant there was no straightforward way to submit questions. An alternative way of submitting questions, or running the sessions in smaller groups I think would help as post consultation discussions would be easier and I think in smaller groups people would have more input too. I think VCE has potential to be a really valuable learning experience, but main improvement for me would be ensuring that we can clearly hear he GP and patient throughout consultation and smaller groups would allow for much better discussion and engagement than watching them in a lecture theatre with so many students
i registered a few days before the session but when the time came, i was unable to join
difficult to ask questions, platform didnt work for me so i was unable to see the consultation from my laptop. enjoyed seeing consultations firsthand and different style of consultation
I found the VCE session very valubale and would really like to see more of these sessions in the future timeline. it was valuable to experiecne a realistic and non-staged gp clinic in session
no need to wear scrubs if there was no contact with the patients. everything else was great and it was a really good learning experience!
I think it would've worked better if it was either shorter or at least shorter and split into two sessions
We were not told which email to use to create our account and register with the VCE platform. Using the wrong email out of the two university email addresses we have been provided resulted in not being able to log into the session in the morning and having to rush to create a new account with the right email in order to log on. The site kept glitching and the session wasn't showing up until we created the new account. Telling students which of the two emails needs to be used in advance would be very much appreciated.
Couldnt get the platform to show me the livestream. Group was too big for any real discussion - GP group size would be much more appropriate. Still a good experience
I think doing it in smaller groups would be more beneficial and easier to ask questions to gain more from the experience. Other than that, I absolutely enjoyed the session and learned a lot. Thank you.
the platform was hard to work and seemed unneeded. it seemed like a better set up for everyone just to watch it on the big screen and potentially set up a different seperate chat function for questions. the consultations were very helpful to watch and the discussion was beneficial
It was cool to see actual consultations but the session was way too long, became wordspeak after and hour and a half
Although I found the GP sessions incredibly helpful in developing a further understanding of a live GP consultation, I found it very difficult to hear majority of the conversation as the lecture room didn't carry the sound very well. Therefore, this made it very difficult to stay engaged and ask questions during the session.
WIFI connection in the lecture theatre was not fantastic so had to give up on using my device to watch the session. (regardless since it was on the screen it didn't really make a huge difference). I've found that with GP live, the smaller group sizes mean that people are more engaged within discussions. In a lecture hall with more people it can be more intimidating to ask a question or get involved in a discussion. Overall while I did find the session enjoyable and informative I would've preferred it in a smaller group environment. I would also like to see this technology used for settings such as a surgical or medical clinic in ARI because it feels too similar to GP live and I think we do not get a great amount of exposure to hospital based clinics until placements in later years. It would be nice to get a general understanding of hospital based clinics run before we experience them later on and I think this live format is the best way to do that.
I appreciate it isn't possible due to the number of students but I think it would be better to see patients on our GP placements and do the cases and GP teaching we do at the GP practices in a tutorial environment at the Foresterhill site. Overall the VCE session was good but students in different groups will have a different learning experience. If the GP live videos were updated and not (in some cases) 10+ years old they may be just as suitable as VCE.
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I think maybe shortening the session to 3 consultations as I feel it became quite difficult to focus on the 4th after taking in so much info. Perhaps even splitting this into 2 days and then include more consultations.
The VCE platform didn't allow me to join the session on my laptop for some reason. However, I found it really useful to be able to watch live consultations and it was probably my favourite GP session so far since the start of Year 1.
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At times I found it hard to hear what the patient was saying and sometimes the GP too - this could have simply been because I was further back in the lecture hall but the lecture hall was full so I could not be further forward. Doing VCE in a smaller group could have allowed for more engagement, both in between and during consultations. I did enjoy experiencing the consultations in a real life/live manner, having the opportunity to ask the GP directly about their approach and gaining more perspective on how GP appointments are ran. Overall, I think VCE is a really good learning experience however, smaller groups would be beneficial even if it meant less sessions (quality over quantity).
Live Gp session are more beneficial, and sitting in the hall for 4 hours watching live felt very long. However at live Gp in our small groups is there is generally more engagement.
Apologies, I was not able to attend the session due to a medical emergency so i am unable to provide feedback.
Having four patients was good but felt quite long, particularly as each consultation seemed to be an above average length followed by a lengthy discussion. It would be helpful if we had some information about the patients before their consultations just to be able to prepare by thinking about each patient's presentation, though I recognise this would be difficult to police for confidentiality reasons etc. Perhaps if we could watch the consultations as a lecture theatre (without our own devices needed, as these were a bit obsolete with everything being shown on the larger screen anyway) then split off into smaller groups for discussion that would allow people to contribute more and also to get more out of the session.
It was sometimes hard to hear what was going on when the patient was in. Doing this in a smaller group session would have, in my opinion, more beneficial. Additionally, having a list of the cases which may come up or a general history of the patient before the session, would have helped with doing some ground work to extract everything the session had to offer. Logging in on our devices was not necessary except accessing the chat.
I wasn’t present during VCE session due to illness - I apologise for the generic response but I had to fill out the form as emailed to do so. But, due to the fact I did not attend, I cannot say I did the mentioned aspects and neither agree nor disagree for the rest of the feedback. Although i heard that most people generally agreed that it was a good session.
Techinical aspects were confusing and difficult to log onto platform after creating an account & doing the professionalism course
The platform didn't work with my iPad which the system claimed was a mobile device and therefore I could not access the chat function. I had been assured that this would not be an issue so long as the professionalism form was completed on a university desktop ahead of time which I was quite happy to do. The session was extremely beneficial in the sense that it furthered my understanding of GP consultations and provided a window into the various methods of communication used by the GP to allow the patient to aid them in creating a shared action plan negotiated by both doctor advice and patient's wishes.
Our VCE session was held in the Lecture Room 0:070 LT3 Polwarth. I think it was too small for the amount of students that were in the room which made it hard to focus as the environment was very cramped. On that day, there was also no AC or ventilation which made the room quite stuffy which may have distracted us. I appreciated the session as I found it quite helpful and interesting, however, I would've preferred if it was online or done in tutorial small groups instead.
I think it could have been made slightly shorter as by the end I was feeling quite tired
VCE is a good idea but the class is way too big to have any sort of meaningful conversation about it. Additionally, the tech needs to work for there to be anything meaningful compare to GP live. Also, it’s hard to say whether it’s better or worse the GP live as they do different things. GP live is still good to critique the clinicians etiquette with the patient whereas the VCE is a model GP who (ideally) doesnt make many mistakes and is aware they are being watched by students. So GP live gives a more realistic idea of how GPs act when there is no medical students/professionals to critique them - both have different pros and cons. Overall, VCE is good ONLY if everything associated with it works (the tech) and there isnt a huge year group but more tutorial size classes.
I really enjoyed the VCE, i think it ran smoothly and i preferred it over watching GP Live.
ideally if you can do a practice prior to students session, the session had sections where troubleshooting was going on with staff - this was an inefficient use of student and staff time. The group size was too big for good discussion - four lecturers were present with only two teaching/controlling the IT side, would it be worth having smaller groups?
small group learning encourages questions whereas large lecture theatres oppose that
The lecture theatre was really hot which ment i found it hard to concentrate so i think maybe tutorial groups would be better