University of Warwick · Warwick Medical School
Warwick Medical School, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL · Founded 2018 · @rmd.warwick
About
Warwick Medical School runs a graduate-entry, four-year MBChB course with an intake of more than 200 students a year. RMD Warwick began as a pilot in the 2018–19 academic year, when our first cohort completed a provider course at the University of Birmingham and then went on to teach there. We ran our first on-site provider course in February 2019, training 39 students.
We developed steadily in the years that followed, moving from an optional course for first-year MBChB students to an expected part of the curriculum from 2023–24 onwards. 2023 was also the first year the course was established enough for us to host our own instructor course.
We trained our 1,000th student in 2025 and now train up to 240 students a year. From 2026–27 we extended teaching beyond our first-year MBChB cohort to undergraduate health sciences students as well. We run our provider courses in the first semester; the second semester is given over to community and outreach work — CPR/AED awareness sessions for groups and societies on campus and in the local area. Our students contribute to research too, including work on the effect of a bra in situ on simulated CPR performance and scoping and systematic reviews for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) that have gone on to inform international resuscitation guidelines.
Gallery
Photos from teaching sessions and chapter events.
The Programme
RMD Warwick follows the same development pathway used across the RMD UK network, with senior faculty oversight in place of a separate assessor tier.
A three-week course on Monday evenings, continuously assessed, with a formative final assessment in the last week.
Promising candidates apply and interview at year-end, then join the instructor weekend each September.
Years 3–4 instructors run the course day to day, support new instructors, and give written feedback.
Oversees the programme and returns to assist with examinations — RMD Warwick has no separate assessor tier.
Promising candidates are identified after every course and invited to a submission and interview process at the end of the academic year. We select 16–18 students to join the instructor weekend each September, alongside several returning teachers who support the new cohort. In years 3 and 4, some instructors form our student committee, overseeing the day-to-day running of the course, supporting other instructors, and giving structured written feedback on their teaching. Each year we also identify one or two Instructor Trainer Candidates, who teach alongside our established Instructor Trainers on the instructor course.
We run no formal assessor scheme; instead, senior faculty return to assist with examinations on provider courses. The programme has oversight from Dr Christopher Smith, an Emergency Medicine doctor and cardiac arrest researcher, and Dr Helen Poulton, a Clinical Education Fellow, both at Warwick Medical School. We are also building a group of senior faculty — doctors, often still working locally, who came through our own scheme — who support the instructor weekend and provider course examinations.
Graduate-entry medicine (an expected part of the year 1 curriculum) and, since 2026–27, undergraduate health sciences degrees (optional). We run four taught courses across two disciplines each year.
Community & Outreach
RMD Warwick has no separate community arm — our core cohort organises and delivers on-campus and local-area outreach and awareness sessions alongside their near-peer teaching. This includes outreach with local groups such as schools, asylum centres and sports clubs, and awareness sessions at student open days and other events on campus throughout the year.
Research & Publications
Our students get involved in research alongside their teaching, from manikin studies to scoping and systematic reviews that have informed international resuscitation guidelines.
The effect of a brassiere in situ on the efficacy of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator use – a manikin study
2026 – Scottish Emergency Medicine Conference, 12th May (poster) and Intensive Care Society State of the Art Conference, June–July (oral)
Dee R, Smith M, Rajendran K, Perkins GD, Smith CM, et al (all authors part of RMD Warwick). Resuscitation. 2021;162:73–81.
Systematic review carried out for ILCOR.
Smith CM, Clancy C, et al (both authors from RMD Warwick). International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Basic Life Support Task Force and Pediatric Life Support Task Force, 3 January 2025.
Scoping review carried out for ILCOR.
Our People
RMD Warwick runs a senior faculty / student faculty split, overseen by Dr Christopher Smith and Dr Helen Poulton at Warwick Medical School.
👥 Meet the facultyFor members-area access, contact c.smith.12@warwick.ac.uk.