University of St Andrews

Medhandbook

School of Medicine handbook for staff & students
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Texting Students

The primary method of communicating with students is via email, students are obliged to read emails every 48 hours.
On occasions the Medical School administration team will use the text messaging system to text students in an emergency, for a significant short notice change to the programme or for occasional short notice student support appointments.

Emergency situations

All emergency messages will be also posted as a Galen announcement and sent as an email to the students.

  • An emergency can be defined as an unforeseen closure of the school; typically due to adverse weather or a power cut.
  • A significant change to the programme would be the cancellation of a lecture or practical, normally due to the unavailability of a lecturer and there is no possible stand in.
  • Short notice would indicate that there is less than 3 hours before the event.  Text messages will not be sent if there is less than 15 minutes before the event.

Collect quality assurance data

The School of Medicine ACT officer uses text messages to collect quality assurance data from 2nd year students in relation to their clinical placements.
Text messages are also used to collect student feedback on external lecturers.

Student Mobile No

The system uses the student’s mobile number from the Galen record. Students should ensure that their mobile phone number in their Galen record is kept up to date.