Getting slightly nervous... is medicine the career it used to be?

[AussieBoy]

All those matures out there, unlike those going straight from school, will most probably be giving up one possibly successful career elsewhere for one in medicine. Given this opportunity cost, and given the recent stories surrounding the limited number of clinical training positions, how are the matures on the forum viewing their decision to switch?

From my point of view, it's making my previously very warm feet a bit more chilly... what's the truth of this? I'm not in it for the money... I'm in it to practice but the bloke in the Times yesterday reckons that only 50% of this year's intake will manage this...

[auden]

I'm pretty confident I'll be able to practise; I'm less confident I'll get into specialist training (ie get an NTN which I think is what this guy was talking about) straight away. In the end, in any career, there is a log-jam somewhere in the career ladder - usually the point at which the wheat get sorted from the chaff. I hope I'll be wheat, but I'm pretty confident, unlike most careers, that there'll at least be a place for me doing something I love if it takes me a few years to get past that point.

Libs
optimist

[thom5455]

I'm hoping it gets sorted out by the time we all looking for specalist training programmes!

Medical student numbers increased significantly between 1999-2003 with the introduction of GEPs and New Med schools this means there will be a massive glut of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new gradutes hitting the system in one go. I'm hoping by the time i'm at the end of F2 its all been sorted out and there are enough specialist training positions for us all and there is going to be a gold-plated career pathway available for me with my name on it in flashing letters.

Fingers crossed.

[xnikko]

there seems to be a lot of 'hoping' going on around 'ere..but hey goodluck!!

[jedherman]

Seeing as we don't know for sure, we have no option but to 'hope'.

With extended-role nursing and the like, the requirement for doctors in the future is likely to be very different. Just a fortnight ago the A & E reg at work was saying to me that it is a brave time to go into medicine, "it is no longer a career for life" and that medicine is very, very different now to 10 years ago. He anticipates A & E having one senior doctor overseeing what he called "physicians assistants" or nurses that follow set protocols. In fact, we almost have that now (maybe 3 Drs and 6 nurses) but it will be more extreme.

Another example (this has nothing to do with doctors) is in radiology. Radiographers were, in general, moaning about doing routine xrays - chests, knees, hands etc - the bread and butter of their work. So in response a new role was created...the "Assistant Practioner", an HCA on steroids basically. Trained in standard xray skills, they just need their xrays approved by a fully qualified radiographer. Now, instead of staffing a dept with 6 radiographers per shift they may have only 2 radiographers and 4 APs, which is cheap, but isn't great if you are a radiographer!

I am scared? I am concerned, but there is nothing i would rather do - so i'm willing to take the risk and 'hope'.

[thom5455]

What you say, Jed, is happening in other health professions too, I worked as a BMS in an NHS medical biochemistry lab processing samples and I'm pleased I got out when I did. Qualified BMS staff are NOW being replaced for simple routine work, which incidently made up the majority of myworking day, by associate practicioners. I think the NHS view the situation as "why on earth should we pay experienced staff £30k a year when unqualified job could do the same job for less". It seems to be a major cost cutting exercise to me!

[brianfall]

This may provide some reassurance;

http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/before...nt_surveys.asp

"Some 95% of interviewees were currently working as doctors and 3% had chosen not to work as a doctor - only 2% of the total sample wanted to practice but were not doing so at the time of the survey."

but...

"The majority of the graduates surveyed stated that the initial average length of employment contracts were 6-12 months."

So it's certainly not out of uni and into a job for life...

B

[trouble]

Medicine is going to be what it always has been...........basicly what you make it. True its no longer a case of blindly moving from one job to the next untill your qualified to be a GP cause you have no clue what you really want, or untill you get some motivation and realisistc expectations of what a career in medicine involves, the jobs just arnt there anymore. It used to be that 17 year olds went to uni and came out with no life skills, followed the JHO, SHO ect ect style training and got a career for life. Now your gonna really have to know what you want to do and why, sounds scary but as graduates or mature students weve had pretty uphill struggle to even get a place, and im pretty sure that somewhere in that struggle most of us will have discovered what the career really involves.

Sure the system is changing but its only going to be to your advantage as mature entrant, and if all else fails move abroad, theres plenty of work, you just gotta know where and how to look for it,

Good luck

[seducer]

Please forgive me for posting this, it is rather negetive:

Job will go as far as f1, f2. Then you apply for run-through training scheme and if you aint lucky or fortunate to hit the spot, you have no job at all. All you can do is apply for short-term 1 year posts, even those cannot be extended. Look at the MMC stuff, there is a comment or rather a risk of graduates being left in a dead-end job. More likely, without a job.

Its going to be seriously tough. This is what happens when you increase your medical school intake. Heck, just move abroad where there is a new shortage of doctors !

[thom5455]

Originally Posted by seducer

This is what happens when you increase your medical school intake.

.....and fail to make a corresponding increase in specialist trainee positions...

I wonder what will happen when the student increase starts to hit the job market in 2007/8? This is when PMS, BSMS, HYMS and UEA start churning out medical graduates too. I wonder if this increase has been forseen or not?