Med school focusing on patient communication

[MasterGG]

DD is interested in studying medicine. I have been following the med school threads on here, which are very informative. I understand that some med schools focus more on patient /doctor interaction and communication than others.

Does anyone know which schools teach this especially well?

St George's, London

Thank you @talkingthewalk 💙

Hull York Med School

Do Cambridge / Oxford focus less on patient interaction? My impression is that they are science heavy and graduates start working with patients after the first 4 years. Dc is extremely passionate about science and very academic but she wants to develop her communication skills as well. She worries that if she was lucky enough to study as e.g. Cambridge it wouldn't help her develop her 'bedside manner'.

Apologies in advance if my post sounds a bit clueless.

It is after the first 3 years that they start clinical placements. My DD is studying at Cambridge to be a vet and the same applies. My DS is at Exeter for medicine and they start clinical placements in the first year and they help them develop their communication skills from 1st year by the use of role-playing and actors.

DD is about to start (hopefully) at Oxford. It's 3 years pre-clinical but as I understand it there are sessions with local GPs from very early on.

UCL graduate here - started clinical placements only in 4th year but huge emphasis on communication skills in med school and beyond. So don't worry about this aspect

There are 4 different types of medial training, traditional, enquiry based, case based, problem based. Oxford and Cambridge do the 'traditional' 3 year pre clinical, other schools will have other teaching styles, but 'problem based' is the most common. I would recommend looking at www.themedicportal.com for a fuller explanation of the different styles. The main difference is that in problem based learning a student will study a system in it's entirety - so alongside the physiology they would learn the anatomy, biochemistry and associated clinical skills at the same time rather than learning the science and then applying it after pre clinical years.
Both approaches have their benefits - lots of 18 year olds don't feel confident enough to have patient contact right from the beginning and prefer to have a thorough grounding in the science first. Others prefer to learn in a hands on way.
HTH