Within the job advertisement itself applicants will be invited to get hold of a member of the department to discover a bit more about the job. If you have never worked in the infirmary or department before it makes sense to discover a bit about both and therefore you can arrange to have a look around the unit during a pre-short-listing visit.
You will need to arrange this appointment before you plan your journey. It is common to have many applicants for an advertised job and it may impact of the department to have 50 applicants wandering around the department on the same day. The department will make a determination which is usually an all or none decision about whether to allow applicants to visit before the shortlisting process.
So the intended outcome for the pre medical interview short listing visit (!) is for you to learn if it is even worth you applying to the section for a post. However, don’t be fooled into believing that the visit won’t be used to appraise you as well. Be well equipped so that you can use the visit to sell your skills to the unit and make a decent first impression.
It is said that certain medical units even go to the point of discounting any candidate who has not been bothered enough to visit the unit prior to shortlisting - so it will decidedly pay you to make the endeavour to visit the unit prior to your medical interview