Taught Component

• The MSc consists of nine taught modules.
• There will usually be nine teaching days per term.
• The nine taught modules will be spread over two years, with 4.5 modules taught in each year.

Summer exams for 1st year trainees

Trainees will sit one essay paper and one short answer question paper comprising a choice of one from two essay questions and five short answer questions (three clinical/analytical and two calculations) from each of the four completed modules (3,7,8,9) covered in the year. Both papers will contribute to the final MSc mark.

Summer exams for 2nd year trainees

Trainees will sit two essay papers and one short answer question paper comprising a choice of one from two essay questions and five short answer questions (three clinical/analytical and two calculations) from the following five modules (2,3,7,8,9) covered in the year. All papers will contribute to the final MSc mark.

End of term assessments

Assessments shall be set at the end of the Autumn and Spring Terms.  They shall consist of an essay paper and a short answer question paper.  The essay paper consists of a choice of two from four questions on topics covered during that term.  The short answer paper consists of ten short answer questions (both calculations and clinical/analytical questions). The calculation won’t necessarily relate to topics covered during the term. These assessments will not contribute to the overall MSc mark but they will be used in the overall assessment of the trainee..

Past examination papers

Examination papers pre 2008 may be found a http://www.wmtc.org.uk/examinat.htm

Plagiarism

The University of Birmingham has a strict anti-plagiarism policy, details of which may be found in the course handbook

Ethics Approval

>It is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that ethics committee approval is sought, where required, for any research projects undertaken by the trainee.

Mitigation

Under achievement in examinations and late submission of project and / or dissertation work owing to genuine mitigating circumstances will be viewed sympathetically.  Details of the mitigation process may be found in the Course Handbook and trainees must contact Dr Glenn Matthews, University lead for the course (g.m.matthews@bham.ac.uk) as soon as possible, as retrospective mitigation cannot be submitted.

Website

Course website www.wmtc.org.uk

Course dates  (provisional)

1. Autumn Term 2010: Dates on website
2. Spring Term 2011: 14/1, 21/1, 28/1, 4/2, 11/2, 25/2, 4/3, 11/3 exam 25/3
3. Summer Term 2011: 29/4, 4/5, 6/5, 11/5, 13/5, 20/5, 3/6, 10/6, 17/6, exam 1/7

                          

Clinical / Biochemical

Gastrointestinal (including pancreatic) function and pathology, malabsorption, hormones of the GI tract, liver physiology/pathophysiology, trace elements and vitamins

Analytical / Managerial

Biological variability, statistics and reference ranges concept of risk, quality assurance and control

1. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of the pathophysiology of the GI tract
2. Evaluate the laboratory’s role in the investigation of GI dysfunction and pancreatic disease
3. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of tumour markers associated with the GI tract
4. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of liver pathophysiology and the role of biochemical and virological tests in the investigation of liver disease
5. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of statistics as applied to biological variation, reference values, clinical sensitivity and specificity, risk assessment
6. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the principles and use of statistics as applied to quality assurance in laboratory analysis and interpretation of results

                          

Clinical / Biochemical

Neurochemistry, CSF and its analysis, principles of pharmacology, therapeutic drug monitoring, toxicology, cardiovascular disease inc. hypertension, ischaemia atheroma and Myocardial infarction, cardiac markers

Analytical / Managerial

Principles of clinical enzymology

1. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of pharmaco-kinetics and the principles of therapeutic drug monitoring
2. Evaluate the role of the laboratory in the investigation of the poisoned patient
3. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the factors governing blood pressure, its investigation and principles of
4. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of the biochemistry of the endothelium and the use of markers of cardiac damage
5. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of CSF biochemistry/physiology and interpret results of CSF analysis
6. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the optimisation and standardisation of enzyme assays
7. Interpret results of common enzymological tests

                          

Clinical / Biochemical

• Assessment of nutritional status, Water and electrolyte metabolism, acid base homoeostasis, renal physiology, endocrinology and chemical pathology.

Analytical / Managerial

• Ion specific electrodes, osmometry, methods of quality control

1. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of the structure and function of the nephron and the laboratory assessment of kidney function
2. Demonstrate a basic understanding of water and electrolyte metabolism and its dysfunction in simple clinical situations
3. Demonstrate a basic understanding of acid/base metabolism and its disorders
4. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of renal failure and its metabolic consequences
5. Understand the basics of nutritional support and the laboratory’s role in total parenteral nutrition
6. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the principles and practice of an agreed range of analytical methods.

                          

Individual Files can be found below.

Attendance list

Instructions for completion of claim form 2011

MSc course Feedback Form 2011-2012

                          

Project and Dissertation Combined Proposal Form

A project proposal form for both the project and dissertation(s) should be submitted by all 1st year trainees and must be received by the Regional Tutor for the West Midlands, Dr David Vallance (david.vallance@dgoh.nhs.uk), by the beginning of February 2009.

                          

Dissertation(s), Projects and Project Report

Guidance Notes for Students

Importance of the Project, Project Report and Dissertation(s)

• The project and dissertation(s) components make up 50% of the marks towards the award of the MSc degree.
• The Dissertation(s) Component makes up one third of this 50%, ie 1/6th of the total marks for the degree.
• The Project and Project Report Component makes up 2/6th of the total marks for the degree.

Submission of Dissertations and Project Reports

These should be submitted as WORD document files on non rewritable CDs 2x copies). Two printed copies are also required.

A representative of the University will attend the lecture day to collect the reports.

Please note that all submissions will be subjected to the latest plagiarism detection software. Where serious plagiarism can be proved, this may result in a student being asked to withdraw from the course without the possibility of a degree being awarded.

For more information on plagiarism please see: www.as.bham.ac.uk/study/assess/sca/plagiarism.shtml

Dissertation

• The substance of the dissertations may be an audit, literature survey or report of a project.
• Around 2-3 months should be spent on this component

Dissertation (s) Reports

• This component may be satisfied by the submission of one long dissertation or two short dissertations.
• A long dissertation must be comprised of approximately 10,000 words, not including references and acknowledgements.
• If the student is submitting two short dissertations, each must be of approximately 5,000 words, not including references and acknowledgements.
• Each document should contain:
• 1st page – title, name and UB number of student, address of hospital laboratory where the student was working when the document was written and whether it is a long dissertation or a short dissertation
• 2nd page – summary of dissertation (200 words maximum), plus statement affirming that this is the student’s own work. (NB.
• Copies of a signed statement to this effect must be submitted with all copies of the report).The Harvard system of referencing is recommended.
• References should include titles of articles and first and last pages.

Project

The substance of the project may be a major audit or report of an original laboratory project, either of which should have the potential to produce results that are likely to be acceptable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Approximately 6 months, including write-up time should be spend on this component

Project Report

The report should be a minimum of 12,000 maximum of 20,000 words in length, not including references and acknowledgements.

The document should contain:

• 1st page – title, name and UB number of student, address of hospital laboratory where the student was working when the project was carried out. Please also specify that this is project report.
• 2nd page – summary of project (200 words maximum), plus statement affirming that this is the student’s own work.(NB. Copies of a formal signed statement to this effect must be attached to all copies of the report ).
• The Harvard system of referencing is recommended.
• References should include titles of articles and first and last pages.

Project viva voce

In July of the final year a viva voce will be conducted on the project. The viva will take approximately 15minutes, the first 10 minutes of which will be taken by the student giving their presentation. After the presentation the student will be questioned by a panel of examiners, including the external examiner. At least three working days prior to the viva, students should submit a PowerPoint presentation by email or CD or to Stephen Burns (s.c.burns@bham.ac.uk) and ascertain that this file has been received before the day of the viva.

• The viva constitutes 20% of the final project mark.
• Please note that the onus is on students to attend this viva. Only in exceptional circumstances will alternative dates be arranged.
• (Holidays and/or conference attendance do not constitute exceptional circumstances.)

For further details please contact

Dr Glenn Matthews (G.M.Matthews@bham.ac.uk)

                          

The MSc in Clinical Biochemistry is only open to NHS trainees (Clinical Scientists  and Specialist Registrars) employed in NHS Clinical Chemistry Laboratories.

The procedure for new trainees applying for the MSc is as follows:-

To apply please contact s.c.burns@bham.ac.uk for an application form. Forms are  to be completed and returned with one reference, plus copies of exam certificates for Steve Burns at the address shown below.

Send one reference plus copies of examination certificates to:

The procedure for re-registration for year 2 of the MSc is as follows:-

• Two weeks after the exam board (latter held same day as project viva) trainees who have been successful in their exams should be able to register online at the student portal www.my.bham.ac.uk

In case of problems with above process please contact: