More about ALS,BLS,ATLS and other courses
Mood:  energetic
Thanks to Dr Nirjhar Nandi for this one:

"Hi

Sunanda has presented an excellent overview on PlAB and getting first job in UK. Here is few more...

-Things are changing in uk. Foundation programmes are coming up replacing regular SHO posts in a particular speciality. Two parts - F1 & F2. F1 is equivalent to PRHO and F2 is SHO. Regarding Foundation programme, THE EARLIER U COME (AFTER YOUR MBBS), THE MORE IS UR PROBABILITY TO GET INTO IT. Still it is difficult. Ur CV must show something to differentiate u from others.

- Regarding BLS/ALS/ATLS courses in UK:

BLS : One can do it at any UK NHS hospital by paying ?15 - ?25 on an average. Employees/Clinical Attachees may be exempted from paying. Getting a Place is not difficult.

ALS: Find the course centre and available dates at http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/alscours.pdf
You can call or mail directly to the course coordinators of individual centres to get an aplication form. Most of the centres give priority to the applicants according to your grade,speciality and region. Others do it on first come first serve basis. Getting a place is difficult. Aerage waiting time is 4-5 months. It costs around ?300 - ?400. Highly demanding course. Specially designed for Medicine, A&E, Intensive Care and Anaesthesia.

ATLS: Most demanding course for A&E, General Surgery, Trauma & Orthopedics and to some extent Anaesthesia. Find ur centre and availability at http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/education/docs/ATLS%20Course%20List.pdf . Very Very difficult to get a place. Candidates are mostly selected by shortlistig according to grade, speciality and region. Average waiting time is 10 months. cost is ?450 - ?600.

Other couses like EPLS & ALERT are also helpful.

Doing all the courses and MRCP-1/MRCP-1 u may still find it hard to get ur job. But certainly they will give some advantages over others.

But I personally believe the most important thing is what 'luck' are you bringing with u to UK.

Don't give up hope. Let's fight together. We are NILRATANITES."

Further queries, and input invited.

S

MORE Q- Re PLAB2, PG, MRCP etc
Q:

hi,
thanx for th reply & th infos.its mentiond tht plab2 is gng to b difficult-is it tht its quite tough(made by teachrs)nowadays or its kinda luck factr wrkin so 1 may nt succeeed?if mrcp/s is don along with plab-is it gng to help2gt jobs faster?whts th scene out thr4 thos who r clearin only ths pg exams &comin to uk for th clinical portions?hw do thy manage to do th clinical attachmnts?do pg passd out peopl hav a bettr chance ovr thr?
wil b waitin eagerly for th reply of my queries


A:

Firstly, every one has a different experience about PLAB and UK. There is no hard and fast rule. So while you are taking info, don't base your decisions on exceptions. Rather base it after considering the average, if not the worst. The info I provide basically comes from feedback from east ham docs, and those who got jobs in the last 5 months.

PLAB2 has changed a bit. While people become anxious about the 'new' 'first time' osces, most fail on the good old osces that we used to do even in 2003. It's all about practising and getting stock replies into your head, which will work even when you are actually working on the wards.

Luck is undeniably a factor, but luck does favour u when u are prepared for it. Getting jobs mean a lot of things, including the possibility of a job cropping up where u are doing an attachment. Those who get jobs without an attachment have really unusual luck :)

The deal here is to improve the odds of getting a job. For that:

- MRCP1 / MRCS1 etc is a recommendation - yes.
MRCPsych is not possible because u need to have worked here for a year at least b4 u r eligible.

- Build your cv -
recently i know one doc who got a paeds sho post, 2 months after coming to this country - her cv had research [from the private paeds hospital at park street- forget the name] and audit from another private hosp.

-do a BLS / ATLS course in india, it costs bout 800 rs, there are institutes in pune, find out which ones. Apollo delhi also does few 'online' courses that are expensive, don't mean nething to the nhs, but at least make ur cv better than the rest. Even if u dont do those, when u come to uk, try and get a 'bls' and an 'atls' course. again it's optional, i haven't met many in the last two years who did not have to do one before they got a job. Most hospitals will make you pay for the courses. Prices vary from 350 to 500 pounds each.

-cut short the waiting time - whatever work u do in India should reflect on your long term interest. doing a hs in dermae or eye and asking for a job in hand o wont look good. as soon as u know when u are coming over for ur plab 2, start applying for attachments.

-make ur cv and keep updating it. what seems good to u today will seem like crap in a months time..

-PG- from my point of view, pg graduates have an edge when it comes to passing exams, doing staff grade posts, and even getting the first jobs, but consultants who are in the shortlisting process can answer that better. I think it comes to a point where the consultants decide on the basis of their personal experiences - no one likes obnoxious rigid pgs, who might argue with u :) , then again, some would prefer having an sho who wont call u up for every little thing.


whether you will succeed or not.
tough!
when i came to uk, the rule was we will succeed, but we don't know how long it will take and how much it will cost. people living here without a job for over a year was not unheard of even then. The problem now is that the costs have increased, and the visa has become a pain.

-one of my friends from nrs has agreed to mail some info to the group bout doing atls courses here, another might give us info bout the indian courses etc.

till then....

S

Costs?
Q:
hi,
presently m doin intrnship whch is gng to get ovr in june.im preparing for plab bt i kno th current situatn in uk or london is nt favorabl for jobs...bt i wish to giv mrcp/mrcs,moreovr i heard systems of plab r changing.
it wil b of grt help to me if som1 enlightns me regardin abov-hw shud i proceed &al &th expenditure etc


A:
Have you appeared for IELTS yet? If you are determined to make the move, do consider giving the ielts before you start planning. That's not because we doubt your ability to pass IELTS, but because that will give u an idea of the time frame required for you to appear for plab2. Things are changing quite rapidly nowadays.


The rules were supposed to be changed in August, but there hasnt been ne changes in the rules for PLAB.

While the PLAB structure hasn't changed much, all the collaterals have. What has become difficult is - extending your visa once you are in the country. Getting attachments, jobs etc...
Off late, most plab candidates have to renew their visa 2 to 3 times before they get their first job, each time it costs u bout 500 pounds. All other costs have gone up over the last few months. Some places now insist you pay the hospital to do an attachment, and getting an attachment could take form 1 to 4 months. Some of us want to compile a list of the possible expenses etc, we will put it up on the site if and when we are done, but the rule of thumb it that u should at be prepared to give plab2 twice, and extend your visa 2 times, not to mention other costs.



NB: HOPEFULLY A LIST BASED ON THE EXPERIENCES OF RECENT PLABBERS WILL BE UP ON THIS BLOG BY MID OCTOBER 2005

Priorities
I am not sure where to start from. i could simply start from ielts, but it would be better if i started on a need to know basis, in other words my entries will be based on specific queries. so i know i am not wasting my time hoping for someone to benifit from these pages...besides there never is any guarantee that my suggestions / information shall be of any help, because the first thing i learnt is that every person has an individual experiencethat is similar to but different from that of the other person.

bye!

S

Introduction
I have always wanted to add a few links to help friends coming to UK, especially since I found it hard to get reliable first hand advice when I decided to sit for PLAB or come to UK.

I hope to have an ongoing discussion about ielts,plab,coming to uk, visa,accomosation,clinical attachments etc.

With luck, it will also bring more active participation from NRS-ites both in UK and back home.

At this stage I shall not be doing much, otherthan forwarding a few e mails that I have shared with people planning to arrive in december 2003. It mightanswer some questions that others might be having.

Lets see how this turns out. Your feedback is awaited.

Although it is part of the NRS Web site, I am open to postings from any one interested in this blog.

Regards

Sunanda Ghosh