First day of FY2!
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Hi friends,
Long time, no anything! I’m sorry. Today I thought I’d give
you a career update – tell you where I’m at career wise. If you follow me on
Instagram (@sam.forde) you will know that I survived first year of being a
doctor and I am now an FY2! Crazy!
I get a lot
of questions about what FY2 means and whether or not I’m a GP / what happens
after FY2.
So, my official title is Foundation Year 2 Doctor.
Synonyms: F2 / FY2 / Second year intern / Senior House
Officer / SHO
It means I am now a fully registered doctor with a licence
to practice (last year I had a provisional licence to practice). It means that
I can go anywhere in the world if I’d like to and work as a doctor – a few of
my friends have done this. It means I am also allowed to have more than one job
as a doctor (I can work locum shifts which are in addition to my contracted
hours, if I want to – although I could do this last year, I was restricted to
where I can do the shifts, now I’m not). I can do things fairly autonomously –
make life and death decisions (with consultation with my supervisors), etc. It
means I have a bit more freedom than I had last year. It also means I can do
rotations in specialties that need someone to have had at least some experience
being a doctor because patients tend to be more complex – A&E, GP, OBGYN,
etc
But, I thought you wanted to be an obstetrician and
gynaecologist (OBGYN). How does being an F2 fit into things?
Well, Foundation training in the UK is a training programme
for doctors who have just left medical school – this is our first job. It is a
two year programme of 6 rotations (on the most part) where you rotate through
different departments. (In Ireland, this initial intern training is only one
year). After the two year programme, you enter specialist training – for me,
this will be OBGYN.
It is not a requirement to go into specialist training
straight away – some people do what is colloquially known as an F3 year – they
essentially take a gap year after F2 to do whatever they want – travel, have
children, get married, sit at home, get some more experience in a particular
field, strengthen their CV etc. I am currently thinking about taking an F3 –
many pros and cons, hopefully I’ll make a decision soon.
OBGYN training is a seven year program, yes, SEVEN YEARS!!!
Other training programmes are shorter or longer – to be a GP, your training
programme is three years. To be a paediatrician – 8 years, to be a cardiologist
– 6 to 7 years, etc. So the amount of time you spend in training depends on
what specialty you want to do. Generally specialties that involve working in a
hospital are around 6-7 years or more if you want to do paeds.
Postgraduate training for OBGYN looks like this:
ST1 – ST2 – Basic training in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology
ST3 – ST5 – Intermediate training in surgery, obstetrics and
gynaecology
ST5 – ST7 – Advanced training in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology
There are numerous exams that need to be passed and loads of
surgical techniques that need to be learned as well as medicine! After ST7, you
apply for a consultant post and you become a Consultant Obstetrician and
Gynaecologist.
So in total, from dreaming of becoming an OBGYN to actually
becoming a consultant OBGYN, it will have taken me 14 years (plus 1 for my
masters degree) minimum. If I wanted to
do anything extra, e.g. a PHd, this will add to the time. I am currently half way haha!
If I don’t deviate from my path (which I’m anticipating that
I will), I will be in my early to mid 30s when I become a consultant which is not
bad.
So there you have it. I hope I have explained a bit of my
career. Let me know if you’d like any more career post like this!
Sammi
xoxox
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