The Path of a Neurosurgeon (UK)

[pmiles]

So, I am a prospective medic, hoping so specialise in Neurosurgery. could somebody please explain the course an Neurosurgeon would have to take before he could start practice from acceptance into a UK Med School? it is tricky to find information on British Pre-Med.

How long do they train? what is the process? is this long compared to other specifications? what does an average Neurosurgeon make pa? is this high compared to other surgical options?

[Bambi]

If you aren't even a medic yet, unless you come from a family of neurosurgeons the chances of you actually wanting to be one when the time comes are pretty small. Anyway, you don't need to know this sort of thing now, it will in no way help you, through med school you will find out general things you need to do to be competitive so just make sure you do them. One thing I will say though is that neuro has more emergency work than most other specialties, it is not a specialty to get into for money reasons, the hours are awful, if you don't love it, you will go crazy. In my experience most medics and doctors actually hate neuro, I love it though!

[Haligh Haligh]

I am very interested in neurosurgery as a career path, and this is what I have ascertained so far.

So here's what I understand:

A-levels --> dont have to do anything
Medical School --> Nothing to do for pre-clinical years. When you get to clinical stuff, if you have any student-selected modules, pick neurosurgery, or things allied to it (neurology, icu, ent, ophthalmology). Whilst there, partake in some research; audit, clinical research. Start building a portfolio of all the surgical procedures you have witnessed(www.elogbook.org Electronic Logbook Project Homepage)
FY1/FY2 --> try and get a foundation programme with at least one job in a neurosurgery unit. carry on building your portfolio and research.

AFTER F2, you have to apply for Neurosurgery at ST1 level nationally. Once you're on the Neurosurgery training programme, its run-through. There are no more application steps until you get to consultancy so you can sit back and twiddle your thumbs, because once you've made it onto the programme, you're going to become a consultant neurosurgeon basically, unless something horrible happens. Very few other programmes offer this.

The downside is, once you're on a Neurosurgery run through programme, there is nothing else you can do. You can't chop and change careers, even surgical. This programme is specifically tailored to churn out neurosurgeons, so you couldn't even swap to orthopaedics or ENT despite some of the similarities; you'd have to quit the training altogether and reapply.

Money and pay does not go by speciality but by performance, grade and length of service. Obviously private practice differs, but I don't know how much you can charge someone for a privately done VPL shunt etc.

Hope this helps.