Advanced Clinical Assessment (ACA) is our specialist unit focussed on physical examinations and clinical reasoning. Just like Independent Prescribing, it can be taken as a standalone unit to contribute to your continuing professional development or built into a larger academic award.
From Autumn 2026 Advanced Clinical Assessment will be delivered alongside a new sister-unit called Foundations of Clinical Examination. Newly updated with additional clinical content, these two units are delivered in parallel and will prepare you to work more autonomously as a prescriber. During your studies with us you will:
- gain a range of clinical examination skills through workshops facilitated by expert clinicians and experienced medical actors
- develop an understanding of the nature of uncertainty within clinical practice and how it can be managed
- develop your knowledge and skills through a range of practice-based activities, under the supervision of a clinical supervisor
- produce a portfolio evidencing your new skills which can be shared with future employers or other credentialling bodies
- access a dedicated online learning environment to access resources and interact with course tutors and your fellow students
The units are designed specifically to help you to develop your clinical reasoning ability, providing a foundation for further learning and clinical experience. With ongoing practise, education and supervision after completing your learning with us, you can continue to develop diagnostic competence in a range of clinical areas.
Clinical Areas
The units will allow you to develop you examination skills for the following body systems:
- respiratory system
- cardiovascular system
- abdominal system
You will also be introduced to examinations for the following systems:
- musculoskeletal system
- neurological system (new for autumn 2026)
You will be expected to reach an entry-level competence in all these clinical assessments, but you will select one from: respiratory, cardiovascular or abdominal systems as a focus for your learning throughout the two units. This will include a written assessment in which you will explore the relevant anatomy, pathophysiology and available evidence for your selected system, which will also form the basis of your five assessed consultations later in the course.
Please note that this unit covers examination skills for adult patients only: the unit does not cover paediatric assessment.
Workshops
There are ten workshop days and one in-person assessment day for these units, and satisfactory attendance and engagement during these days is a compulsory element of the course so please ensure you can attend before making your application. Specific dates for the next cohort can be found at the bottom of this page. They are predominantly in-person at our ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø campus but a few are delivered using live online learning.
Assessments
The assessments are split across the two units and are designed to integrate your clinical and academic skills:
Foundations of Clinical Examination
- Learning Needs Analysis
- Foundations of Examination Task
- Managing Clinical Uncertainty Task
- Exploration of Ethical Practice Task
Advanced Clinical Assessment
- Five Consultation Reports
- Case Presentation
- Four station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) undertaken on campus
- Portfolio of Practice including a clinical activity log
- Satisfactory workshop attendance and engagement and sign-off by your practice-based supervisor
We estimate that the minimum learning-in-practice time for this pair of units is approximately 45-50 hours (which includes five observation tasks, five consultation tasks and a 25 hour clinical activity log).