Studying Medicine?

caroline1111

If anyone who is studying or has studied medicine could answer a couple of questions, I'd really appreciate it. After you've done your 5/6 years in college, you do your internship for a year. After this, you have to specialise, right? Does this mean more years in college or in hospital, and how many? Is it really like 12 years before you're qualified too?

tech77

Others here will be able to tell you better probably but yeah, basically it's:
Med School: 5-6 years.

Internship: 1 year (usually 6 months Medicine, 6 months Surgery although they're starting to include other rotations like Paeds, ObGyn now AFAIK).
After internship you get your full registration with the Irish Medical Council to work "properly" as a doctor.

Then it's:
Senior House Officer (SHO)(working in a hospital): This is at least 2 years.
If you don't know what you wanna do, you can just work in various specialties to get a feel for what you want.

If you do know what you wanna do, you try to get a job on a training scheme (Surgery, Medicine, Paeds, ObGyn, Psych etc).

If you pass your exams as an SHO, you can become a Registrar (after 2-3 years) in that specialty: You then get more experience as a reg for a few years (another 5 years maybe, i dunno tbh) before going for Consultancy in your specialty. There's SpR (specialist registrar grades as well but that's essentially the basics).

Alternatively if you want to be a GP, you can get on a GP scheme soon after internship. This involves 18mths?-2 years of various 4-6 month hospital rotations in Internal Medicine, Paeds, A and E, ObGyn? to prepare you for work with a GP as a GP registrar and ultimately as a GP (after a couple more years).

Obviously, there's other careers like Public Health Medicine and Pathology but GP and hospital medicine (Surgery, Medicine specialties, Psych, ObsGyn, Paeds, ENT, Ophthalmology etc) are the main ones.

So it varies depending on
1) what specialty you do.
2) how quickly you get your exams
3) how certain you are about what you you wanna do.

Bluebell55

Thats all basically correct. You are fully qualified (ie have the Doctor bit) after your degree, and become a junior doctor, then SHO, then Reg, Then SpR and then Consultant.... That applies for hospital medicine. The time from starting the internship until consultancy is about 8 years(1+2+2(+)+3), but can be longer if you stay as SHO or Reg or SpR for longer. To move up the various grades, you do work in a hospital, whether here or abroad, and sit some exams, like your membership and fellowship exams... But they are a good bit down the road.

Some fellowships and specialities recommend going to America to do your SpR training or even your Reg and SHO duty. The pathway here is usually quicker, but less well paid. One catch is that you have to do USMLEs(United States Medical Licensing Exams) to practise there, but can equally train in other countries with schemes.

And then the other main option is GP, comprising of 2 years being an SHO on various rotation gaining experience, and then 2 years as a GP Reg working in a practice. You do have membership exams to do too, and can also do diplomas and degrees in various things.

Also on a side note people may do masters after their degree to get an MD qualification... SO its a life of study!!!

RobFowl

caroline1111 wrote: »

If anyone who is studying or has studied medicine could answer a couple of questions, I'd really appreciate it. After you've done your 5/6 years in college, you do your internship for a year. After this, you have to specialise, right? Does this mean more years in college or in hospital, and how many? Is it really like 12 years before you're qualified too?

Can be 12 or more. Once you've finished your intern year to will be entitled to be on the "training register" . Following the new medical practitioners act which came into force on 16th March, you can be on limited registration (Intern) training registration (minimum of 4 further years to be a GP and an absolute minimum of 7 further years to be a consultant). After this you are entitled to be on the specialist register.
There is also now a "general register" for Doctors who have no completed specialist training and are not in a training sch3eme and another for visiting EU trained Doctors who wish to work here occasionally or part time.
http://www.medicalcouncil.ie/registration/default.asp

Generally after medical school finishes its a minimum of 3 years in hospitals and the then 5-15 (in hospitals usually though often some lab based research as well) to become a consultant or 2 years as a trainee GP under supervision in training practices .

ZYX

Bluebell55 wrote: »

Thats all basically correct. You are fully qualified (ie have the Doctor bit) after your degree, and become a junior doctor, then SHO, then Reg, Then SpR and then Consultant.... That applies for hospital medicine. The time from starting the internship until consultancy is about 8 years(1+2+2(+)+3), but can be longer if you stay as SHO or Reg or SpR for longer.

You are extremely unlikely to be a consultant after 8 years. 12 or more years to be a consultant would be more normal. Also remember there is no guarentee you will ever get a consultant post even after 20 years. A huge number of new consultants have been appointed in the last 10 years. With the current ecconomic downturn many consultant posts will not be filled when the current doctor retires. The reality for many/most junior doctors is, they will never get a consultant post in this country.

RobFowl

ZYX wrote: »

You are extremely unlikely to be a consultant after 8 years. 12 or more years to be a consultant would be more normal. Also remember there is no guarentee you will ever get a consultant post even after 20 years. A huge number of new consultants have been appointed in the last 10 years. With the current ecconomic downturn many consultant posts will not be filled when the current doctor retires. The reality for many/most junior doctors is, they will never get a consultant post in this country.

They're are alot of my class finished training as consultants and there are very few public posts being advertised or coming up. I heard (3rd hand !) that there may be a recruitment embargo for the next few years.
They are either working as private consultants and paying huge rents to private hospitals for the privilege or else going abroad. (PS was just reading the BJGP and GP jobs being adverised in the norhtern regions for $230-$330k and New south Wales for $300-$400k :eek: )

Frank3142

is it easier to get into medicine 6 year course than the 5 year courses?

eth0_

ZYX wrote: »

You are extremely unlikely to be a consultant after 8 years. 12 or more years to be a consultant would be more normal.

Maybe if you trained in the UK - the NHS have 'fast track' routes to becoming a consultant.

ZorbaTehZ

Frank3142 wrote: »

is it easier to get into medicine 6 year course than the 5 year courses?

6-year, since there are additional requirements for 5-year courses - they are college specific, you can find out what they are on the qualifax website.