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What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained

2018-03-14 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 10:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Aimed at students

Ali, a final-year Cambridge medical student, explains UK medical training after medical school (the two-year Foundation Programme, core medical or surgical training, specialty training, run-through specialties such as GP) and how foundation jobs are allocated, then says he is matched to East Anglia and was not offered an Academic Foundation Programme place.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Introduction: UK medical training beyond medical school, and an update at the end

00:00:22 — The basics: medical school, Foundation Programme, the choice, specialty training, run-through specialties and GP

  • ★★ Some UK medical schools, such as Cambridge, require an intercalated degree, and there medical school lasts six years. — 00:00:29 · University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge
  • ★★ Every UK medical graduate does the two-year Foundation Programme, FY1 and FY2, usually with three different rotations in each year. — 00:00:29 · United Kingdom
  • ★★ After the two Foundation Programme years comes what Ali calls "the choice", basically between core medical training (CMT) and core surgical training (CST). — 00:01:00
  • ★★ Core medical and core surgical training last two years; a doctor who wants to become a cardiologist then applies for specialty training year three (ST3) in cardiology. — 00:01:26
  • ★★ Ali says doctors become consultants after ST8: leaving medical school at about 24 and core training at 28, then six years of ST3–ST8 make 34–35 the earliest consultant age. — 00:01:56 · United Kingdom
  • ★★ Instead of core training, a doctor can go for a run-through specialty, which starts at specialty training year one (ST1) and usually runs to ST8, though some are shorter. — 00:02:42
  • ★★ GP training is one of the shorter run-through specialties, ST1 to ST3, so a fully-fledged GP takes five years after medical school, at about 29 or 30. — 00:02:42
  • ★★ Ali says obstetrics and gynaecology is the specialty he is currently interested in. — 00:02:42 · Obstetrics and gynaecology
  • ★★ Obstetrics and gynaecology is a run-through specialty: after FY1 and FY2 a doctor applies to ST1, and it goes up to ST7, after which one can become a consultant. — 00:02:42 · Obstetrics and gynaecology
  • ★ Other run-through specialties include psychiatry, paediatrics, neurosurgery and, he thinks, ophthalmology. (hedged) — 00:03:33 · Psychiatry

00:04:24 — The Foundation Programme in more detail: regions, FPAS score and job ranking

  • ★★ For the Foundation Programme the UK is split into regions: Scotland and Wales are each pretty much one region, and England is split into many. — 00:04:32 · United Kingdom
  • ★★ Ali ranked East Anglia as his first-choice foundation region because it includes Cambridge, which he really likes, and the smaller hospitals of his placements: Ipswich, Bedford, Peterborough, King's Lynn. — 00:04:53 · Cambridge, King's Lynn
  • ★★ For the Foundation Programme London is split into three regions: North West London, North East Central London and South Thames. — 00:04:53 · London
  • ★★ Foundation Programme applicants rank the regions in order of preference and are matched to one by their FPAS score, the foundation programme application score. — 00:05:22
  • ★★ North West and North East Central London are two of the most competitive foundation regions; East Anglia, Scotland, Yorkshire and Trent are less competitive and need a lower FPAS score. — 00:05:22 · London
  • ★★ Once matched to a region, foundation applicants rank nearly all its jobs; each job is a list of six rotations, their order and the hospitals where one is based. — 00:05:51
  • ★★ Foundation jobs within a region are allocated in order of each applicant's FPAS score. — 00:06:21
  • ★★ Ali says his FPAS score is relatively high within East Anglia but nowhere near the highest, so he is unlikely to get his very first choice of job. — 00:06:21

00:06:40 — Where he fits in: matched to East Anglia, the Academic Foundation Programme he did not get, the Academic Clinical Fellowship

  • ★★ Ali expects to get at least a foundation job in his top five, maybe his top ten. (hedged) — 00:06:50
  • ★★ Each year foundation applicants learn their region by about the first week of March, have about a month to rank the jobs, and know their hospitals and rotations by about April. — 00:06:50
  • ★★★ Ali will be assigned to the East Anglia deanery for the Foundation Programme, his first choice because he loves Cambridge, and is now ranking its jobs. — 00:06:50 · Cambridge
  • ★★★ Ali applied for the Academic Foundation Programme but did not get a place. — 00:07:19 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★ In the Academic Foundation Programme one of the rotations, usually in FY2, is a research block of some sort. — 00:07:52 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★ Academic Foundation Programme applicants rank the research they would like to do, fill in an application form and have an interview, and the scores decide the order of allocation. — 00:07:52 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★★ Ali applied for Academic Foundation Programmes in Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and in London, was interviewed at both, but scored too low and was put on the reserve list. — 00:07:52 · Academic Foundation Programme, London
  • ★★ Missing the Academic Foundation Programme was a bit of a blow to Ali; he will instead do the normal Foundation Programme in Cambridge. — 00:08:35 · Academic Foundation Programme, Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali calls the Academic Foundation Programme a good gateway into research or an academic career. — 00:08:35 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★ Ali leaves the Academic Clinical Fellowship programme, which comes about eight years down the line, out of a video meant for medicine applicants. — 00:08:35
  • ★★ For an academic career with research or university teaching on the side, some academic experience helps; the Academic Foundation Programme is the first way in, but not the only one. — 00:09:04 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★ Ali says not having done an Academic Foundation Programme will put him at a slight disadvantage if he goes the academic route, but it is by no means the end of the world. — 00:09:04 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★ Without a four-month research block in the normal Foundation Programme, Ali hopes to get involved with research projects anyway. (hedged) — 00:09:34
  • ★★ Ali says he will make another video on what happens once he finds out where he will be for the next two years. — 00:09:34
  • ★★ Ali says he is definitely going to continue vlogging. — 00:09:34

00:09:40 — Summary of UK medical training and his plans for the channel

  • ★★ Besides videos for medicine applicants, Ali wants to make videos for medical students, such as on OSCEs. (hedged) — 00:10:24

In the description and comments

  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): The channel replies that doctors are paid in these training years from FY1 onwards. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Academic Foundation Programme

Also: Organizations: Addenbrooke's Hospital · University of Cambridge

Concepts: Obstetrics and gynaecology · Psychiatry

Places: Cambridge · Kent · King's Lynn · London · United Kingdom

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