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UK medical training

I think I'd need to read that text three times to understand all the jargon... though maybe that's the point. It's a bit long - and your attempts to extend the theme tune just 30 seconds are evidence of that!

Still, I like the whole Emperor Blair etc.
 
Thanks dops7107!

Yes, you noticed the blip in the audio to get a few extra seconds of text in. You're probably right that it is a bit too long!

You're also right that there is a lot of jargon whihc those outside the medical community will not understand fully...

ST= Specialty Training...doctors will be called Specialty Trainees in the new system, hence the title of ST Wars

MMC= Modernising Medical Careers, the name of the new system

MTAS= Medical Training Application Service, the computer based application system (a bit like UCAS). MTAS has had so many blips and crashed on a few occasions and overall has not worked very well.

RemedyUK (www.remedyuk.org) is a group formed by junior doctors who represent an increasing number of junior doctors all over the country, campaigning against the new system

BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) also have problems not linked directly to MMC although that also affects them as well

MPSC (Modernising Plastic Surgery Careers) is a group of plastic surgery trainees lobbying against the new system

Hope that clarifies things a bit

Thanks

AJ
 
AJ795 said:
Thanks dops7107!

Yes, you noticed the blip in the audio to get a few extra seconds of text in. You're probably right that it is a bit too long!

You're also right that there is a lot of jargon whihc those outside the medical community will not understand fully...

ST= Specialty Training...doctors will be called Specialty Trainees in the new system, hence the title of ST Wars

MMC= Modernising Medical Careers, the name of the new system

MTAS= Medical Training Application Service, the computer based application system (a bit like UCAS). MTAS has had so many blips and crashed on a few occasions and overall has not worked very well.

RemedyUK (www.remedyuk.org) is a group formed by junior doctors who represent an increasing number of junior doctors all over the country, campaigning against the new system

BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) also have problems not linked directly to MMC although that also affects them as well

MPSC (Modernising Plastic Surgery Careers) is a group of plastic surgery trainees lobbying against the new system

Hope that clarifies things a bit

Thanks

AJ
Click to expand...

Note to mods: please move this to the political forum

/sidetrack

MMC is necessary. In the past there were many problems with the old system. Old boy networking (rife amongst doctors), no specific pathway for training of qualified doctors in the past ("I've just qualified...what do I do now? Oh yeah, I'll just bumble into something something randomly..."), and the NHS having no idea how many doctors were going into each speciality and needing to train in the future. There are teething problems, but there are bound to be - every new system does... :rolleyes:
 
ST Wars

I like it alot!

As someone who has friends going through this crap system - its a farce. But its things like these that bring a smile to my face on such a dard matter!

As for moving this item to the politics area, I think he asked for people views on the movie - not views on the politics of graduate medicine. But hey, who am I to say?

Great movie!

F
 
FireArse said:
I like it alot!

As someone who has friends going through this crap system - its a farce. But its things like these that bring a smile to my face on such a dard matter!

As for moving this item to the politics area, I think he asked for people views on the movie - not views on the politics of graduate medicine. But hey, who am I to say?

Great movie!

F
Click to expand...

I think the politics from this are inextractable from a critique of this video tbh.
 
MOFS said:
MMC is necessary. In the past there were many problems with the old system. Old boy networking (rife amongst doctors), no specific pathway for training of qualified doctors in the past ("I've just qualified...what do I do now? Oh yeah, I'll just bumble into something something randomly..."), and the NHS having no idea how many doctors were going into each speciality and needing to train in the future. There are teething problems, but there are bound to be - every new system does... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

As important as it is to modernise medical training (streamlining career paths and shortening training hours to generate an increased number of senior grades but with less practical experience), the MTAS system for application has proved to be a complete farce - as evidenced by the half hearted apology and promise to review matters issued on friday. As someone who will have followed a specific career path for 2.5 years come august I'm a little bit disheartened to have no interviews and no apparent career pathway ahead of me come August. I know that people have been accused of being too selective in their placement areas (although picking every job south of birmingham is hardly selective and if they had let me I would have chosen more), but is it really too much to ask to stay in the South of the country where I grew up, trained and have worked every job to date. As it stands I have been unable to settle down or buy a house because I never know where I'll be in a year's time and I have had two serious relationships torpedoed by crappy working hours and the uncertainty of medicine and the lottery of placements.

Did an old boys network exist before, none that I saw. Certainly some trusts would look to employ doctors that they knew but if you know that someone is competent and driven from the experience of working with them then that is worth far more than a flimsy CV and a 15 minute interview of audit and clinical governance. All MTAS has done is further confounded things by adding nonsense management speak questions that do nothing to assess your clinical ability, level of experience or even english language skills but rather test your knowledge of medical buzz words and human resources double-talk.

Am I cross about the whole thing? Too bloody right I am. I have spent 10 years studying and working and another 5 years on top of that knowing what it is that I wanted to do. Only to be told that as of August I may not have a job for a considerably period of time, although my chances might be helped by choosing to work in an alternative speciality which I have yet to identify nor have any clinical experience of. I've just been up all night grafting away for the same organisation that has left my future completely in the balance. I don't feel that I'm entitled to a job just because I got my degree but I know that I'm good at what I do and feel that I should be able to keep doing it, sadly these next 5 months could be my last chance to work regularly in my chosen field. Happy, happy days.
 
jimN said:
Am I cross about the whole thing? Too bloody right I am. I have spent 10 years studying and working and another 5 years on top of that knowing what it is that I wanted to do. Only to be told that as of August I may not have a job for a considerably period of time, although my chances might be helped by choosing to work in an alternative speciality which I have yet to identify nor have any clinical experience of. I've just been up all night grafting away for the same organisation that has left my future completely in the balance. I don't feel that I'm entitled to a job just because I got my degree but I know that I'm good at what I do and feel that I should be able to keep doing it, sadly these next 5 months could be my last chance to work regularly in my chosen field. Happy, happy days.
Click to expand...

Mate - I hear ya. I'm a fourth year medic at the moment and a lot of my friends who have qualified or are set to qualify are saying the same things. Unfortuantly, what you're saying is true for many, but what the NHS needs in terms of doctors entering specialities is not necessarily what students want to do - hence this ranking we have to do to choose what we want to do in the future. It sucks, but at least it means that they're filling the spots needed. The only thing I can say is good luck in filling in your forms (hope you got good feedback from any med students!:D ) and hope your ranking for the jobs you want is high.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far

MMC looks good on paper and will probably streamline things for future doctors.

However, what current trainees are complaining about is the transition. If you don't get a job now you will have to either

try again in round 2 (when there will be significantly less jobs)

go abroad if you want to stay in your chosen specialty

change to a specialty you don't necessarily want to be in

In the previous system you could stick it out until you got a job in your chosen field whereas now it is 'now or never' for a number of trainees

Also, there have been lots of complaints about the selection procedure as well, hence the Department of Health review last week. I don't know if that will make much difference though.

We'll just wait and see

Best wishes to all those caught up in the whole thing

AJ
 
I'm not sure that is is truely a "now or never" situation although it can feel a little like that at times. I had a meeting with my Educational Supervisor today and he's involved with MTAS and was largely reassuring. However, at the same time his answer to some questions was that he didn't know, which is a little worrying.

I love what I do and given I won't have looked after an adult for two and a half years come August I'm really looking to keep it that way and stay in Paediatrics. Right now I just have to put my faith in the system because if I don't everything starts to look very bleak!!
 
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