General Practitioner Education

epen2k9

I just want to ask how long does it take to become a GP in Ireland? College?Training? And Can I work in USA as a GP?

Vorsprung

After graduation, it takes 4 years once you get on to a training programme (a task in itself). Programmes are run through ICGP.

Not sure about working in the States.

tony007

I was wondering if doing research in your college years helps in getting on to the scheme or helps at all in career progression?

RobFowl

tony007 wrote: »

I was wondering if doing research in your college years helps in getting on to the scheme or helps at all in career progression?

Yes it helps an awful lot. I did some and got it published and am fairly sure it was a big part of getting onto the GP scheme.

tony007

RobFowl wrote: »

Yes it helps an awful lot. I did some and got it published and am fairly sure it was a big part of getting onto the GP scheme.

Thanks very much for the response. Appreciate it.
After the intern year how many years realistically would it take until you get onto a GP scheme?
Also, does the type of research matter? For example, would doing genetics research help?

sillymoo

tony007 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the response. Appreciate it.
After the intern year how many years realistically would it take until you get onto a GP scheme?
Also, does the type of research matter? For example, would doing genetics research help?

I am an intern and managed to get into a GP scheme for the coming intake as did some of my colleagues. I had some research from second year in psych. The application seems to have gone away from research and academia in the recent intakes from the people I have been speaking to. Essential to the application is an interest in GP as a career, experience other than your undergraduate placement in the form of electives either undergraduate or postgraduate, and maybe gp as part of your internship if your lucky enough to get it. The competition is stiff but I, along with other interns, managed to get scheme places first time applying so it is possible. The best advice I can give you is if you really want to do GP, do electives and get experience so you can write about it in the application and speak about it in interviews. Make your application personal so it will stand out from the crowd and be honest! It you want to do research, do something that you can tie into GP in the future. Good luck!

Edit: research did not seem huge to the schemes I applied to but I can't speak for ask schemes. The impression I got was that they wanted enthusiastic, interested doctors who really wanted to be gp's and were able to show their enthusiasm through their CV, application and interviews.

Edit edit: I'm terribly excited about getting a spot on a scheme and cannot wait to start in July! And I wish you the very best of luck :-)

tony007

sillymoo wrote: »

I am an intern and managed to get into a GP scheme for the coming intake as did some of my colleagues. I had some research from second year in psych. The application seems to have gone away from research and academia in the recent intakes from the people I have been speaking to. Essential to the application is an interest in GP as a career, experience other than your undergraduate placement in the form of electives either undergraduate or postgraduate, and maybe gp as part of your internship if your lucky enough to get it. The competition is stiff but I, along with other interns, managed to get scheme places first time applying so it is possible. The best advice I can give you is if you really want to do GP, do electives and get experience so you can write about it in the application and speak about it in interviews. Make your application personal so it will stand out from the crowd and be honest! It you want to do research, do something that you can tie into GP in the future. Good luck!

Edit: research did not seem huge to the schemes I applied to but I can't speak for ask schemes. The impression I got was that they wanted enthusiastic, interested doctors who really wanted to be gp's and were able to show their enthusiasm through their CV, application and interviews.

Edit edit: I'm terribly excited about getting a spot on a scheme and cannot wait to start in July! And I wish you the very best of luck :-)

Congratulations!
And thanks for the reply!
I'm an undergraduate student and was wondering what kind of experience is available to me?

Breezer

tony007 wrote: »

Congratulations!
And thanks for the reply!
I'm an undergraduate student and was wondering what kind of experience is available to me?

Electives. Talk to your professor of general practice. Failing that, speak to your own GP, they're bound to know someone who's interested in education and training. Make sure you actually get to see patients during this, and it's not just observation (depending on how far along in college you are, obviously), as it really benefits you. I did a 3 week placement between 4th and final med, and did a simple audit during this, which got selected for a poster presentation at an ICGP conference. I managed to get onto a GP internship too and did a little bit of audit work during this time as well. Got onto a GP scheme after intern year. In my experience the schemes look for a variety of different people with different levels of experience each year, and there's an emphasis on learning from each other. You do need to show enthusiasm though, so the earlier you start the better. Good luck!

medic087

Hi Guys

Just wondering if end of first year would be too early to try and get an observership for a week or two ? Thanks