Today, I finished my 3rd day of paeds (as the spell it in the UK). Not much of a milestone, but it's progress. The biggest shock has been how different the UK medical education system is than ours!! First, they do not go to college; they go straight from high school to med school. Then, med school is either 5 or 6 years, depending on if they get a degree or not. In either case, unless you come with a degree, med school is considered undergraduate. Then, after graduating, they begin residency as a FY1 and then FY2. During these two years, they rotate through a little of everything, and don't specialize at least until they reach their third year. In their third year (which they have to apply for, again), they're considered house officers and usually start their specialization (although not always). After a couple years of that, they apply again to become a registrar. At this point, they're in specialty training and are pretty senior. They can spend a pretty long time here...basically, until the consultant (their word for attending) thinks they're ready. If they're good, it can be just a couple years. Otherwise, can be longer. It's not unusual to take 10 years to complete surgical training (compared to 5 in the US).
However, there is a trade off, which is that they work MUCH fewer hours than US students and residents. I believe that their maximum workweek is 48 hours, which is not exactly strenuous. And medical students have it pretty darn easy! My schedule is technically 9-5 (which is already easy), but most of the students are gone by 2 or 3, since the consultants really don't care what you do. Basically, you get as much or as little as you want out of it. Even in surgery rotations, you get out in the early evening or late afternoon and have weekends off. All students also have wednesday afternoon off, to go play a sport (or just go home). And, my attending said he knows that we probably had a hard week, so we should just take Fridays easy and leave early! If you want to go to the ER or OR, you're pretty free to do so. Or not, if you just want to go home. If you don't like surgery and don't want an insane schedule, this is definitely the place to come!
However, you can also learn a lot, if you want to. Most of the registrars like to teach and do it pretty often. We usually have 1 or 2 teaching sessions per day. Today, I saw a baby with CHARGE syndrome and Down syndrome, as well as learned how to do a baby check. We also had a lecture on Down syndrome. Tomorrow, we have a lecture on childhood asthma and another on cystic fibrosis. For the rest of the night, I'll probably spend a little time reading up on the, so I can appear smarter than I really am ;)
4 comments:
very appreciative of the blog... great info for us underclassmen. thanks!
I've worked with kids with CHARGE and down syndromes! recommend therapy! i'll move for free! ;)
Well the Down syndrome kid is a couple days old, and the girl with charge is in pretty bad shape and has yet to ever leave the hospital, so I don't know if they're ideal clients.
I am a UK med student and found your blog a few days ago, I started at the beginning and have got to here so far.
Just for those who are interested I thought I would make a couple of comments though I don't know if you read them on old posts?
Firstly, yes, med school is typically undergrad however at least 10% of those entering med school already have a prior degree so in that sense it is similar to the US. Even with a degree many will still choose to do a 5 or 6 year medical degree. Also our undergrad degrees are of a higher level than in the US.
FY1 is equivalent to our old house officer classification. FY2 - CT/ST2 is equivalent to senior house officer. ST3 (5th post grad year) is registrar, the exact timing of when you become a registrar varies a bit by specialty but most are ST3. Like you said you usually have to reapply for registrar jobs, not always though. Your length of training is not determined by how good your consultant thinks you are, it is set and basically unheard of for it to ever be shortened, if you suck it may be extended. You switch consultant and or hospital every few months/every year anyway so 1 persons opinion of you couldn't decide your career in that way. Generally, in surgical specialties (the only ones I care about) you will go to at least ST 7, so 9 years post grad. Exactly how long depends on the type of surgery. Then you basically have to wait for a consultant to die or retire before you get a consultant post. Many people never get there.
Also, the 48hr week never actually happens, not beyond foundation anyway and even then only if you are a slacker. Technically yes you can't work more than this but they fiddle the numbers.
Anyway, I love your blog, it is a nice break from writing up my research! I love apple too!
Post a Comment