RAF/Army/Navy Doctor, anyone?

[aspirant doc]

Originally Posted by moko

The problem with getting funding from the army for your medical degree is that you have to spend a couple of years in the full time army after you become a doctor. this could be a pain in the ass as it could interfere with ur personal life, and you could die.

Well, the forces would be unlikely to give away £40K over three years and not expect some professional commitment in return, wouldn't they?!

As for the point about dying, a 18-24 year old man in Glasgow is more likely to die in Glasgow in a car crash, violent crime, drugs incident, alcohol incident, mugging etc than an 18-24 year old Glaswegian British soldier in the Infantry on patrol day in day out in Afghanistan.

Besides, if working overseas, armed forces doctors are by and large in the hospitals in extremely secure bases. Some are on the ground, but that would be the exception.

You are right though, someone taking up armed forces funding must understand that they will go to these places. If they are prepared to, it's not a problem. If they aren't prepared to, then it isn't the right thing to do.

It is worth bearing in mind that armed forces doctors

• Spend the vast majority of their time in NHS hospitals
• Are paid more than NHS doctors for the first 6-8 years
• Have their professional exam fees paid for
• Get plenty of perks from being in the forces - skiing trips, adventurous training trips, non-contributory pension etc etc
• have some exciting stories to tell...admittedly not all good!

All the best.

[chiari]

I work in an NHS hospital which has an agreement with the MOD which allows forces staff (not just doctors, but nurses and AHPs too) to work there alongside NHS colleagues, treating NHS patients. They work all over the place, not just in A&E or surgery, and seem to do pretty much the same as the NHS staff, except they apparently have more in their pay packet at the end of each month!

It's a great deal for the hospital, as they dont have to pay for these staff, and if any of them are posted the MOD pays for replacement staff to cover them. It's good for the staff themselves too, as they get a wider range of experience than they would just working in an MOD hospital. All the non-military staff seem to like having them around as they bring a different attitude. I know that the patients certainly love it, having a uniformed member of the forces looking after them!

[kotoreru]

Anyone got any ideas what the Armed Forces expect in terms of fitness? Can't be underweight/overweight, that sort of thing? Able to run for 10 minutes without exploding?

Just interested.

[MJK]

Im pretty sure that the doctors have to pass the same fitness tests as the soldiers.

So you would be looking at press up test, sit-up test, and like a 2 mile run that you have to complete in under 14 minutes, and probably some other stuff.

[aspirant doc]

There are underweight and overweight people in the forces. If you have asthma, you would need to be inhaler free for a few years before joining. If you have any chronic illnesses like diabetes, they won't take you. 1.5 miles in under 11 minutes is the absolute minimum, after two mins of press ups and sit ups - a minimum of about 50 of each. These tests are age scaled - the older you are, the more time for the run or the less reps you need. But these are very basic tests, they expect officers, whether doctors or front liners, to set a good example of personal fitness and do very well at these rather than just pass them.

[Everhopeful]

In the RAF they have graduated levels depending on gender and age. They test sit ups, press ups and running. The running is based on shuttle runs (running up and down the sports hall in time to beeps that get progressively quicker, and you have to reach the lines at each end in time with the beeps or you're disqualified on the 3rd miss) so we don't have the 1.5 mile thing (or at least not until you've already passed the initial selection). I can only reiterate that fitness is important. I like this as it fits with what I think a doctor should do, i.e. set a good example (my opinion only though!). If you were interested in the RAF their website has information about fitness levels and a programme you can follow before selection in order to reach the necessary levels.

[Everhopeful]

Sorry, forgot to mention that when I was being selected for bursary there were two girls and one guy that had weight issues, the girls were under a healthy BMI and the guy was over. The ones who passed the selection otherwise were given a number of months to rectify their BMI, otherwise their pass lapsed. Bear in mind that military selection criteria depends on how much they need new personnel. When they're flush the standards go up (not that they'll admit this!) and when retention is a problem the standards get slightly more relaxed! Hence it is a bit of a lottery sometimes whether you get some flex about things or not. fortunately at the moment the forces are recruiting heavily. They're about to open bursaries (if they haven't already) to all branches (ie not just pilots, engineers and medics) in the RAF to encourage student sign up, which is a sign that now is a good time to apply..