Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Job opportunities

I seem to have neglected my blogging so on my day off I thought I'd write an update, although I sense I do not have a lot to write.

So finally I have a day off and then tomorrow I start back doing day shifts which tend to be terminally boring. Everything on a night shift seems to happen at double speed and because it is dark I can't see my awful surroundings that much (most of the time I can't actually see what I am doing either) yet on a day shift the hours seem to drag by.

I cannot complain though, at least I have a job when there are so many newly qualified doctors seeking jobs. It seems ludicrous to me that you apply for medical school and then train at university for 6 years and then not being guaranteed a job after your PRHO year. This year is usually spent in the same (or surrounding) NHS Trust as the one your university was located in, or used for the clinical placements and you are guaranteed a job for this year. When this year comes to an end you have to look for a post as an SHO in the speciality you want to work in. Unfortunately this is the difficult part as there are only so many allocated training posts in the UK. If you have been lucky in your PRHO year you will have already decided to train in a certain speciality and you will therefore remain in one NHS Trust doing rotations within that speciality, the most obvious one of these is psychiatry where you would gain knowledge in all aspects e.g. acute, elderly, mother & baby, crisis, liaison and outpatient and you will therefore always be able to find a post. However, for the rest of us mere medics the search goes on for a post and this happens every 6 months (in February and August). The problem is there are always popular posts (A&E for example) and these fill up quickly leaving the medics wanting to practise in A&E probably in oncology or something similar, basically where they didn't want to be.

Can you see why so there are so many medics who do not appear happy in their current positions and resent their colleagues who happen to work in the department they wanted to spend this 6 months in?

Rant over... I promise. Until next time.

3 comments:

L said...

What an interesting blog! Definitely plan to revisit.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to more insights into your world.

I'm a doctor too (of "philosophy", really geology), but without the unfair grief you guys seem to have to tolerate. Though I have had to make life or death decisions in my job as a mining geologist some years back.

Even more years back I was "mental" too! It passes and I hardly ever seem to think about that time any more. The medication sucked and - I suspect - was worse than the disease!

Take care.

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess all this SHO clamouring for jobs brings medics in line with the rest of the UK population. I spent 4 years at med school and 3 on other uni courses and still don't seem to have any employment prospects besides £4.85 care work...

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