Vocational Training
Following completion of medical school, junior doctors then enter a vocational training phase. In the UK a doctor's training normally follows this path:
Newly qualified doctors enter a two year Foundation Programme, where they undertake terms in a variety of different specialities. These must include training in General Medicine and General Surgery but can also include other fields such as Paediatrics, Anaesthetics or General Practice.
Following completion of the Foundation Programme a doctor can choose to specialise in one field. All routes involve further assessment and examinations.
To train as a general practitioner (GP), after completing the Foundation Programme, a doctor must complete eighteen months of posts in a variety of hospital specialities - often including paediatrics, psychiatry, geriatrics and obstetrics & gynaecology. The trainee also has to spend eighteen months as a General Practice Speciality Registrar - a trainee based in a GP practice. After completing this training and the relevant exams, the doctor can become a GP and can practise independently.
Hospital doctors are promoted after sitting relevant postgraduate exams within their chosen speciality (e.g. Member of the Royal College of Physicians MRCP, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons MRCS) and a competitive interview selection process from SHO to Speciality Registrar (StR) and eventually Consultant on completion of the CCT (Certificate of Completion of Training), which is the highest level in a speciality (with the exception of university-linked professors).
The competition is significant for those who wish to attain consultant level and many now complete higher degrees in research such as a Doctorate of Medicine (MD), which is a thesis-based award based on at least two years full-time research; or PhD, which involves at least three years of full-time research. The time taken to get from medical school graduation to becoming a consultant varies from speciality to speciality but can be anything from 7 to more than 10 years.
In the United Kingdom, doctors' training will rapidly evolve in the next twelve months, with the introduction of run-through training. A doctor, after completing their two foundation years, will apply for a single speciality (including general practice) and be trained solely in that speciality for a fixed period of years (typically seven) before being awarded a CCT. These changes will take place in accordance with the government-instituted plan for Modernising Medical Careers.
Read more about this topic: Medical Education In The United Kingdom
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