Pre-registration House Officer

 I studied at Norwich High School for Girls from 1989 to 1996 and entered medical school straight after sixth form. For my A-level choices I took Maths, Biology and Chemistry. However, it is not necessary to study the sciences to enter medicine and many of my friends took languages, English or Geography along with one or two science subjects. When I entered medicine the only compulsory subject was chemistry, but that may have changed now.

 I did six years in total at medical school. The first two were pre-clinical, which are mainly lectures and practicals not all that dissimilar to school. I did an intercalated BSc in my third year. This is where you study a specific subject, normally related to medicine, for one year and gain a BSc degree at the end. It basically gives you research experience that can assist you later in your career, and also gives you a degree should you choose to leave the course before the finish! The last three years were clinical, which are spent mainly in hospitals with a few accompanying lectures.

I qualified in 2002 and I am currently doing my pre-registration house officer year, which includes both medicine and surgery. I start the day at 8 a.m. with a ward round with the other members of my team. After the ward round, my day mainly involves doing jobs that arose during the ward round and looking after the general management of the patients. I also go ‘on call’ 2-3 times per week. This is where you admit emergencies and look after other terms’ patients once their team has finished for the day. These days are generally much busier, and my on call lasts 24 hours, plus I have to work the next day until the afternoon. I am also part of the ‘crash team’ which deals with patients who arrest. As I am doing surgery at the moment, I also go into theatre and assist in operations.

  After your pre-registration year you become a senior house officer and can choose your career path. In order to climb the career ladder you have to enter what is called a rotation. This can be in any specialty : General Medicine, General Surgery, GP, Paediatrics and so on. This normally lasts around 3 years during which you sit membership exams of the appropriate college, e.g. the Royal College of Surgeons. Once you have managed to pass these exams and get a ‘number’ you can become a Registrar. Registrar training involves further specialization, for example choosing cardiology having studied general medicine. Registrar training lasts an average of 5 years (1 year for GP) during which you normally undertake some research also. When nearing the end of your registrar years you take an exam to qualify you as a consultant. In the case of GP, at the end of your 1-year registrar job you are fully qualified as a GP.

If thinking about entering medicine it is important to remember that the information you learn is no more taxing than ‘A’-level, but it is in enormous volumes. Once qualified, medicine involves working long hours and week-ends and it interferes with your life. Saying all this, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else!

I am happy to be contacted via Minerva Network Development Office for advice