Student-selected components: bringing more ENT into the undergraduate curriculum

Exposure to otolaryngology is currently minimal in the UK undergraduate medical curriculum. This may lead to difficulties in attracting graduates into higher ENT surgical training and in ensuring a reasonable standard of ENT knowledge amongst primary care practitioners. A recent innovation, of which many ENT units may be unaware, is the introduction to the undergraduate curriculum of 'student-selected components'. Like the traditional elective, this allows students to undertake an attachment to a speciality and department of their choice. Units which do not regularly teach medical students but which have a welcoming and enthusiastic approach to undergraduate training may well be ideal hosts. This paper introduces the concepts underlying student-selected components, outlines the preparation required and offers a template for such an attachment, for which ENT is ideally suited.