Bits & pieces

Extra year means more debt:
Student leaders in Britain are concerned that a trend towards extending medical courses from five to six years could put medical students further into debt. Many medical schools provide the option of a sixth intercalated year spent studying for a BSc, but few make it compulsory. Although medical students know that they will benefit from the extra research, student leaders say that many are put off as it is an extra year of finance.

Researchers' innovation rewarded:
Researchers at the unit of art and medicine at Manchester University have been awarded a £75000 fellowship from the National Endowment for Sciences, Technology, and the Arts to develop a computer forensic tool to make facial reconstruction more realistic and individual.

Website of patients' experiences launched:
A new website was launched this month offering personal and informative health data for people with serious illness. The database of patients' experiences of illness (DIPEx) will answer questions about what a diagnosis means and what the person should do about it, in addition to having video clips of people relating their experiences of illness and the impact it has had on their lives. Prostate cancer and hypertension are the two topics covered at present, but this will soon be expanded to include other cancers. Visit www.dipex.org for more information.

Medical student demands damages:
A medical student at Nottingham University who was thrown off his course eight weeks before his finals has demanded to be reinstated. Mohammed Baig said that, because of health and family reasons, he had to resit some of his course. He said that no one picked up on the fact that he was having difficulties. A spokesperson for the university said that the decision to terminate Mr Baig's place at Nottingham was being upheld on academic grounds.



studentBMJ 2001;09:261-304 August ISSN 0966-6494