Doctor of Medicine
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Doctor of Medicine |
| Deakin course code | H911 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | For General Entry students: a blended learning offering of online and on-campus based at Waurn Ponds (Geelong) Rural Training Stream (RTS) students. A blended learning offering of online and campus, held at Warrnambool Campus or East Grampians Health Service Ararat. |
| Online | No |
| Duration | 4 years full-time. The course is only available to students on a full-time basis. This is a four-year graduate entry program for students who have already completed an undergraduate degree. |
| Course Map - enrolment planning tool | This course map is for new students commencing from Semester 1 2025 This course map is for International Medical University (IMU) pathway students commencing from Semester 2 2025 Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| CRICOS course code | 096842G Waurn Ponds (Geelong) |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9 |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Participation requirements
- Mandatory student checks
- Alternative exits
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Course rules
- Course structure
- Fees and charges
Course overview
Apply to Deakin's Doctor of Medicine if you want to make a real difference to human health and wellbeing. The course has a unique focus on rural and regional medicine, Indigenous health, patient-centred communication skills and service to marginalised communities.
You will develop the foundational skills essential for a career in medicine and be given the opportunity to experience healthcare in multiple specialist areas; setting you up for a range of rewarding careers, from general practice to pathology, paediatrics to surgery. With the emphasis on rural and regional medicine, this course aims to satisfy the critical shortage of doctors in regional areas; ensuring our graduates are highly employable.
Want a medical degree that enables you to enhance community health and wellbeing?
Deakin's Doctor of Medicine Program takes you beyond the classroom to work with patients and their families across western Victoria. You’ll learn how medicine is practised in regional and rural areas, while building valuable relationships with communities and clinical teams that genuinely value and welcome you once you graduate.
The course shines a light on Indigenous health as well as helping you broaden your perspective on clinical medicine to encompass public health, legal and ethical perspectives.
Be part of a community of learners and teachers who support each other as you grow your understanding and capabilities. Be confident in the support provided by the School of Medicine as you learn in an environment where a culture of diversity, inclusiveness, respect and social accountability is built, together.
Start your journey with the first two years focussing on the foundations of medicine, encompassing medical sciences, clinical capabilities, public health, medical ethics and law, and Indigenous health. You will learn to solve the kinds of problems you will face in your future career in a supportive environment, while developing your confidence in foundational clinical skills, clinical reasoning and the high-level human capabilities necessary for excellent person-centred care.
You will build on this strong foundation by acquiring real-world clinical experience through placements in a range of healthcare settings, from hospitals and general practices to community health centres. Students will spend their third and fourth years on full-time placement during the Professional Practice of Medicine phase of the course at one of our clinical schools: the Rural Community Clinical School, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Geelong or Eastern Health.
All of our clinical schools, in rural and metropolitan areas, offer access to experiential learning in the clinical environment and immersion in a wide range of patient care settings, including hospital and primary care. Our Rural Community Clinical School offers a more in-depth exposure to community-based care, with students being paired with a clinical mentor and afforded opportunities to contribute directly to the health and wellbeing of patients in rural area for an extended period during their training.
Across years three and four, you will gain hands-on experience, underpinned by essential knowledge and skills. You will undertake authentic clinical tasks to prepare you for both professional practice as a doctor and the lifelong training and development required for a career in medicine. You will also undertake a pre-internship rotation that offers a first-hand taste of the day-to-day life of a graduate doctor.
Our Doctor of Medicine program is committed to ensuring that applicants from all backgrounds who meet the requirements of entry are able to gain access to study with us. We therefore reserve up to seven domestic places for Indigenous Australian applicants applying through the Indigenous Entry Stream, and around 30 places for applicants applying through the Rural Training Stream. These streams are designed to remove some of the barriers to entry that Indigenous or rural applicants may experience when seeking out a career in medicine. Similarly, we offer bonuses for entry in the General Stream for applicants who have experienced financial disadvantage or come from a rural background.
We also recognise the wealth of experience that applicants with diverse study and work experiences bring into both the Doctor of Medicine program and their future professional practice. We therefore do not have any prerequisite training requirements; applicants may have completed a bachelors-level qualification in any area, from nursing to music, engineering to physiotherapy.
Situated within the Deakin School of Medicine, The Damion Drapac Centre for Equity in Health Education will produce highly skilled cohorts of vocational doctors equipped to meet the needs of the communities they will serve, in particular, rural, Indigenous, marginalised or under-served community groups.
The Damion Drapac Scholarship for Vocational Doctors supports students who are experiencing financial limitations due to personal barriers. This $15,000 per year scholarship is for students commencing the Doctor of Medicine who are from medically underserved populations and can demonstrate a genuine passion for community medicine. Find out more about the scholarship here.
Indicative student workload
As a student in the Doctor of Medicine program, you can expect to participate in a range of teaching activities each week. This could include lectures, seminars, small group learning activities, workshops, online interaction, and clinical placements. You can refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information. You will also need to study and complete assessment tasks in your own time.
All four years of the Doctor of Medicine require a full-time study commitment, with a substantive load of required learning activities and study time. The School endeavours to provide timetables in advance of each semester to enable students to coordinate any work, caring, health or other requirements.
Professional recognition
The Doctor of Medicine is accredited with the Australian Medical Council. Graduates of the Doctor of Medicine are granted provisional registration as a Medical Practitioner in Australia and New Zealand, and are eligible to undertake paid work as an Intern to become eligible for full registration. Domestic graduates are guaranteed an Internship position in Victoria.
Career opportunities
Doctor of Medicine graduates are highly sought-after for internship positions with healthcare providers in Australia and abroad. Deakin’s Doctor of Medicine program allows you to develop a deep understanding of the challenges and nuances of rural medicine, putting you in a strong position to address the shortfall of doctors in regional and rural areas.
In order to qualify as Registered Medical Practitioners with the Medical Board of Australia, our graduates are currently undertaking accredited internships at a number of prominent Victorian and interstate hospitals.
After successfully completing an intern year, graduates can apply for entry to specialty training programs that lead to a broad range of medical careers including in the specialty of General Practice or the emerging Rural Generalist program.
Participation requirements
There are extensive clinical placements throughout the course – see individual unit descriptions for full details. Years three and four require students to undertake placements most days of the week for the full year.
The School of Medicine encourages potential applicants who have a disability or ongoing health condition to reach out for a confidential and constructive discussion regarding the requirements of the course and the potential for reasonable accommodations. Please contact the School of Medicine
Students who accept a position in the Doctor of Medicine through the Rural Training Stream make a commitment to undertake the first two years of their course at either our Warrnambool Campus or the East Grampians Health Service in Ararat. Years three and four of their course will then be conducted through one of our rural clinical schools.
Mandatory student checks
All students are required to undertake a Police Record Check and Working with Children Check at the commencement of their course. Students who fail to do so prior to the commencement of clinical placement will not be able to undertake clinical placement and this will impede progress in the course.
Students are also required to declare their immunisation status to satisfy the requirements of health organisations where they will be undertaking their clinical learning experience. A health organisation may refuse to accept a student for placement if the student’s immunisation status is not satisfactory to the health organisation.
The School will provide commencing students with specific information on their compliance requirements.
Alternative exits
| Master of Health and Medical Sciences (H720) |
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Diagnose and manage clinical conditions, and carry out practical procedures to provide safe patient care. |
| Communication | Select appropriate communication modes to share complex knowledge and concepts with patients, carers, colleagues and communities |
| Digital literacy | Use digital technology responsibly to enhance medical practice. |
| Critical thinking | Critically appraise and apply knowledge to problem solve and make sound professional and patient care decisions. |
| Problem solving | Formulate healthcare solutions using research skills to evaluate, interpret and implement evidence-based practice. |
| Self-management | Demonstrate professional obligation and responsibility to patients, the profession and self as work ready doctors; and show a life-long commitment to reflective learning through practice, research and teaching. |
| Teamwork | Demonstrate collaborative practice within a health care team to provide safe, high quality medical care. |
| Global citizenship | Prioritise prevention and implement holistic approaches to enhance the health and well-being of individuals, communities and populations; advocate for public health and demonstrate a commitment to advancing the health and well-being of rural, remote, Indigenous and marginalised individuals and communities. |
Course rules
To complete the Doctor of Medicine students must pass 32 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
- DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 32 credit points of core units
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.
Note:
- The course is full-time only.
- Students must pass all units including all components of units in the course. Assessments will involve a range of written and performative tasks and are structured to progress across the units of the course.
- Students in the Doctor of Medicine may also enrol in an optional Extracurricular Research Program.
- The first 2 years of the Doctor of Medicine include face-to-face learning. Students learn in simulated clinical environments and dedicated medical sciences teaching spaces, along with small group learning sessions. Teaching activities will be conducted both online and face-to-face. Students will also be exposed to clinical experiences from early in the course, through placements with healthcare providers.
- During years 3 and 4 students will undergo intensive clinical training within health services attached to 1 of our clinical schools: the Rural Community Clinical School, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Geelong or Eastern Health. Students will conduct their learning in the clinical environment, guided by experienced staff associated with the clinical schools.
International Medical University (IMU) students
To complete the Doctor of Medicine, International Medical University (IMU) students must pass 32 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
Students, who have met the minimum entry requirements to the Deakin MD, will be awarded 12 credit points of recognised prior learning (RPL) for successful completion of the first part of the IMU MBBS medical program (which entitles them to the award of IMU's Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Honours)) as an exit degree on transfer to Deakin's MD.
Students must then complete a further 20 credit points of core units, comprising the IMU medical student-specific transition unit (HME922X IMU Medical Student Transition - 4 credit points) and 16 credit points of core medicine units.
Students must pass all units including all components of units in the course.
Note: IMU Pathway students cannot choose to exit with H720 Master of Health and Medical Sciences.
Assessments will involve a range of written and performative tasks and are structured to progress across the units of the course.
Course structure
Units
Year 1 - Semester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HME911 | Medicine 1A |
Year 1 - Semester 2
| HME912 | Medicine 1B |
Year 2 - Semester 1
| HME921 | Medicine 2A |
Year 2 - Semester 2
| HME922 | Medicine 2B |
Year 3 - Semester 1
| HME931 | Medicine 3A |
Year 3 - Semester 2
| HME932 | Medicine 3B |
Year 4 - Semester 1
| HME941 | Medicine 4A |
Year 4 - Semester 2
| HME942 | Medicine 4B |
Optional Elective Unit
| HME090 | MD Extracurricular Research Program ^ (0 credit points) |
^Corequisite unit: HME911
12 credit point RPL (IMU Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Honours))
Year 1 - Semester 2
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HME922X | IMU Medical Student Transition |
Year 2 - Semester 1
| HME931 | Medicine 3A |
Year 2 - Semester 2
| HME932 | Medicine 3B |
Year 3 - Semester 1
| HME941 | Medicine 4A |
Year 3 - Semester 2
| HME942 | Medicine 4B |
Optional elective unit
| HME090 | MD Extracurricular Research Program ^ (0 credit points) |
^Corequisite unit: HME911
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.
If you are an International student you need to be aware the Australian Government caps Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) for the Doctor of Medicine. This means if you are enrolled in this course past your first study period and transfer from a student visa or other temporary visa to a permanent visa, you are unlikely to receive a CSP place. You would however be eligible for a domestic full fee-paying place.