MSc in Rheumatology

The MSc in Rheumatology offered at Oxford University is designed to provide practicing clinicians in the field with a comprehensive training programme both at a basic science and clinical level. The course is part-time over two years, as it is designed and structured for candidates to undertake in conjunction with their ongoing clinical training programme. Attendance at the University is only required on one day per month (the first Thursday). The course also provides extensive training in research design and methodology, to facilitate candidates’ career development in clinical and basic research.

The course is run within the Medical School’s Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (NDOS), one of the largest academic clinical departments in orthopaedics in the UK. The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC), in which the main part of the department lies, is also the largest musculoskeletal clinical centre in the UK, and a world class centre for orthopaedic and rheumatic diseases. This single centre is the site for the Oxford’s rheumatology department with a wide range of specialist expertise; there is also a substantial surgical orthopaedic department with additional clinical departments including metabolic bone disease, disability, imaging, and bone infection. The research activity of the department has been enormously enhanced as a result of the opening in 2002 of the Oxford University Institute of Musculoskeletal Sciences (located within the Botnar Research Centre, BRC), based at the NOC.

Programme structure and content The MSc course is taken over two years, on a part time basis.

The course consists of:

1. Six ‘basic’ modules, each of which comprise 3-8 components for a detailed understanding of rheumatic diseases.

2. Four ‘advanced’ modules, the training for which is based on small group tutorials, problem-based scenarios, development of critical reasoning, and presentations.

3. Assessment throughout the two-year period, comprising a literature review, three multiple choice examinations, a mock grant application and a dissertation.

4. A final assessment which entails viva voce examinations of the trainees on their clinical knowledge and skills.

The six compulsory basic modules comprise:

 Introduction to Rheumatic Diseases

 Mechanisms of Rheumatic Diseases

 Investigation and Assessment of the Rheumatic Diseases

 Clinical Aspects of Rheumatic Diseases

 Management of the Rheumatic Diseases

 Statistics and Information Technology

The seven choices for the advanced modules are:

 Paediatric Rheumatology  Cell Biology  Bone Infection  Sports Medicine  Bone Tumours  Bone and Joint Pathology  Advanced Radiology