psychiatry as a specialty

studentdoc

Hi all
Just looking for a wee bit of advice...
Im a graduate student in final med..and am quite interested in doing psych as a specialty in the future.
Ive been given some conflicted advice on the best way to pursue this.
Some people suggest doing medical memberships first whereas others suggest applying to the training scheme straight after intern year (this would be my preference).
I was also wondering whether travelling abroad is a necessity (as it would be in say surgery)?
Also any training schemes that you would particularly recommend?

If anyone had some good advice from experience that would be great.
Thanks appreciate it.

dissed doc

studentdoc wrote: »

Hi all
Just looking for a wee bit of advice...
Im a graduate student in final med..and am quite interested in doing psych as a specialty in the future.
Ive been given some conflicted advice on the best way to pursue this.
Some people suggest doing medical memberships first whereas others suggest applying to the training scheme straight after intern year (this would be my preference).
I was also wondering whether travelling abroad is a necessity (as it would be in say surgery)?
Also any training schemes that you would particularly recommend?

If anyone had some good advice from experience that would be great.
Thanks appreciate it.

There is no point in doign medical memberships unless you particularly want to. You will learn anything of relevance during psych training anyway. Think if it this way: an extra 2-3 years of medical training, vs. an extra 2-3 years working as a consultant where if you like, you can do a weekend course of medical aspects to psychiatric management.

Travelling abroad is necessary in all disciplines.

From what I have been told, the St. Pat's and St. John of God schemes have the best reputation, and ironically seem to be mostly staffed with consultants who trained abroad.

sam34

i dont have time to properly answer this at the moment, but will get to it within a week (just have 6 million things going on right now)

PM me if i havent posted a reply in a week or so!

studentdoc

thanks sam34 appreciate it

Svalbard

You've answered your own question, OP - you don't want to do a medical scheme first, so don't.

Its your life.

If I had a penny for everyone who gave me 'advice' about what i should and shouldn't do so it would look good on my CV or whatever!!!

Psychiatry, unlike other specialities in Ireland, isn't actually that terrible! St John of God's scheme seems to have the best name alright, but here in Galway the psych kids seem to have all the craic!
You don't have to go abroad for training, plenty of consultants here never did.
Also getting a consultants job here isnt as difficult/impossible as other specialities, though still not easy.

So good training, good lifestyle, no need to go abroad unless you really want to, can work in a city hospital or the Ballygobackwards clinic (i.e. you have a true choice of rural verses urban life which few others aside from GPs really have), training path can be fairly short (if you're good +/- lucky) and it's a really interesting speciality.
It's a wonder more people don't do it really.

DrIndy

For many people psychiatry is a bit mystifying which is what turns people off. You extract a wide array of history and mental state examination and need to take time to ask very wide, personal and probing questions which result in some bizarre and for some people disturbing revelations.

After this you place these through a subjective but VERY precise disease coding system to get a diagnosis - one which often is reclassified as more and more presentations accumulate.

So psychiatry is the vaguest (from the completely subjective nature by both doctor and patient) yet at the same time is the most precise of all medical specialities when diagnosing someone.

This coupled with organic brain disease interaction just becomes too much for many doctors - but absolutely sublime for others.

I have an academic interest in psychiatry and am fascinated by it - but could not do it as a career. People are very different though.

studentdoc

thanks for all the replies!
following the hse publiction of the new intern training programme (intern guide) it seems i will have the option to do some of my intern year in a specialty ie psych...i would love to do this!! but do you reckon its a good idea as I would probably miss 3-6months of med/surg??? im fairly definite psych is for me! thannks again

Svalbard

studentdoc wrote: »

thanks for all the replies!
following the hse publiction of the new intern training programme (intern guide) it seems i will have the option to do some of my intern year in a specialty ie psych...i would love to do this!! but do you reckon its a good idea as I would probably miss 3-6months of med/surg??? im fairly definite psych is for me! thannks again

Yeah, miss 3 months of being a gofer, real shame.

There isn't much 'intern' work in psych, so I would imagine you would do some....gasp......actual medical type stuff! Like actually assessing and treating patients. Imagine!

sam34

hiya

sorry, i forgot about replying to this til today


i'm in my last year as a psych SpR (although we're called SRs, but its essentially the same thing)

i went into psych straight after my intern year, as did 2 others in my class

i would def recommend this - if you know you want to do psych, why faff around doing something else?

the only caveat i'd put on this is that if you're interested in liaison psych, it would be helpful (but certainly not necessary) to have your medical memberships.

the vast majority of people dont bother with the medical scheme

the basic training scheme is a minimum of 3 years, you cannot sit all of the exams any quicker than that. the current pass rate (rate, not mark!) for the exams is about 33%, which shows you how tough they are

after teh basic training, you have a few options - do a research year(s), do a teaching/tutoring job, or apply straight off for teh SR scheme

SR scheme is a min of 3 years, 4 years if you want to specialise in eg old age psych, rehab etc. child psych is a separate 3 year SR scheme

re training abroad - it was said until ve recently that you did not need to go abroad for psych, and i know many recently appointed people who didnt. however, the current situation is such that people may not have an option, as tehre are very few consultant jobs here now, despite the government promises and policies to properly fund psychiatric care.

i would imagine, and hope, that by the time you come to looking for a cons job, things should be better than tehy are now


re training schemes- there is no one that is head and shoulders above the rest

contrary to what a lot of people think, the private hospitals are not always teh greatest places to train in, as they tend to see a certain subset of patients by an dlarge, and these people tend not to be those with chronic and enduring mental illnesses. you will get a much much better grounding in serious mental illness in a public service.

looking at things from where i am now, i have to say its a great job and i love it. there are downsides, of course... one of teh ahrdest will be dealing with crap fprm fellow colleagues who dismiss you and your patient as "just psych" - you wont grasp the enormity of this problem til you are a psych sho with a medially unwell patient on your ward and you want teh med reg to see tehm - good luck! it sounds like a small thing, but in reality its a huge problem. but dont let that put you off.

psych is a job where you get to deal with a forgotten and vulnerable group of people, and teh rewards are immense.

plus, the depth and range of psychopathology never ceases to amaze me - teh mind is a very powerful and strange creature!!

any more q's, fire away