With a patient population of 1.1 million, the Westmead Clinical School is the largest of its kind at the University. The great number and diversity of people within the Sydney West Area serves to enrich medical student training and experiences.

Established as a part of the Sydney Medical School in 1978, the Westmead Clinical School (WCS) is taught out of the Westmead Precinct – one of the largest teaching amalgamations in the Southern Hemisphere. We are based in the Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD), which is an area covered by the NSW State Government health services. NSW Health (WSLHD) administers and funds Westmead Hospital, while the University of Sydney funds WCS.

The strength of WCS is its historical teaching and research capacity and scope.

We aim to provide students with comprehensive clinical training, and an enjoyable, well-rounded experience. Students are exposed to a wide range of medical and surgical health problems across all ages given our proximity to the Children's Hospital at Westmead. We also have a large network of local primary care facilitites and community health services which also support teaching through our community rotations. 

There are multiple disciplines represented at Westmead, which present potential career directions for our students.

Updated 10 February 2022: The University of Sydney Medical School is not currently accepting elective placement applications or making elective placement offers until further notice. This includes applications for placements in 2022. An update will be provided on this website mid-2022.

Visit our clinical placements page for more information and to find out how to apply for a clinical school placement.

The Westmead precinct has in excess of 300 students studying towards their postgraduate research degrees (masters' and PhD). Research at the Westmead Clinical School incorporates Westmead Hospital, the Westmead Institute for Medical Research, and the Institute for Clinical Pathology and Microbiology Research.

You can either search for a research opportunity or learn more about research in the Faculty of Medicine and Health on our postgraduate research section.

If you have any questions about research opportunities at the Westmead Clinical School please contact Naomi Hollier:

PH: +61 2 8890 6303 E: naomi.hollier@sydney.edu.au

Students have the opportunity to become tutors during all stages of their degree.

In Stages 1 and 2, tutors teach skills like medical history taking, procedural skills, communication and physical examination skills at the bedside. Upon advancing to Stage 3, tutors are also required in other activities such as clinical reasoning sessions, bedside tutorials, ethical discussions, online work and assessment.

Although teaching in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) is voluntary, there are several professional and collegiate benefits. Tutors become part of the collaborative clinical school environment and network, and may then take up the opportunity to apply for a Clinical Academic Title.

For more information contact the Westmead Clinical School Education Support team at westmeadcs.education-support@sydney.edu.au.

For more information on Clinical Academic Titles and tutoring opportunities, see provided resources:

Our Skills Lab is well-appointed for medical students doing procedural skills training. Majority of skills teaching for stages 1 and 2 is held in this lab, as well as some of the stage 3 sessions. The lab is fully equipped with scrubbing sinks, skills/plastering supplies, an ECG machine, BP machine, defibrillator, optoscope, emergency trolley and collars etc.

The lab includes the following superior models: BLS models, lumbar puncture models, gynaecological models, catheter models, airway models, breast lump models and cannulation arms.

Our Simulated Learning Environment for Clinical Training (SiLECT) at Westmead is an educational space consisting of three large simulation rooms and two tutorial/debriefing rooms.

Our SiLECT team comprises a collaboration of highly skilled registrar and consultant anaesthetic and emergency physicians, senior nurse educators and clinical nurse consultants all committed to increasing patient safety and evidence based care.

The training is delivered using a variety of high/medium fidelity manikins, standardised patients and part task trainers. The training is delivered in both the SiLECT simulation space and in situ in the clinical environment in response to the goals of the training. Our equipment caters to all speciality areas and includes two high fidelity SIMman 3G’s, a SIMmom with difficult birth capability, a SIM newbie, ALS manikin’s, part task trainers that focus on advanced skills such as central venous access, chest drains and difficult airway management.

Although many of the training and education sessions we provide are customised to individual needs or specialties we also run regular courses that include: advanced life support accreditation courses (ALS), foetal and obstetric neonatal emergency training, simulation/ALS on the run, emergency response for anaesthetists, simulation instructor training and pre-intern training (PRINT) as well as acute care training using simulation (ACTS) for interns and residents.