Need advice on applying to CMT as a backup!

pteller20

Hey guys

Are there any specific CMT jobs/locations which tend to be less busy? :s-smilie:

Thanks!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

DoctorInTraining

Busy in what sense? Less competitive to get a place or more friendly on-call rotas for SHOs?

Reply 2

pteller20

Original post by DoctorInTraining

Busy in what sense? Less competitive to get a place or more friendly on-call rotas for SHOs?

Decent rotas, less tendency to overwork SHOs, good senior support etc..

Reply 3

fishfacesimpson

There's nothing worse than a medical Sho whose heart isn't in it

At least choose something you wouldn't mind doing for a year

Reply 4

pteller20

Original post by fishfacesimpson

There's nothing worse than a medical Sho whose heart isn't in it

At least choose something you wouldn't mind doing for a year

Any suggestions? Believe me I've looked.. There just doesn't seem to be many options. Are GPST1 or CST any less busy?

And I'm sure you'll agree it's better than taking away an ST1 post from someone who actually wants to do that specialty!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

fishfacesimpson

What's busy got to do with it? What specialty are you applying for? I didn't realise any had a stipulation that you must be in a training programme to apply as an international candidate.

Reply 6

DoctorInTraining

Original post by pteller20

I figure if I have to suffer through a year of something I'm not interested in, might as well do a placement that doesn't involve leaving work 2 hours late every day like my F1 posts! Hence looking for advice on placements that tend to finish more on time, e.g. cardiology I assume is better than gastro? or hospitals that treat their trainees better.

Unfortunately there's horribly complicated visa issues involved. In fact it's only been changed this year to allow us to apply a second time to any post- prior to this year you couldn't apply at all if you were changing deaneries - e.g we weren't allowed to apply to ST3 from CT2!

If it's finishing on time then maybe consider ACCS? My mates on A&E always finish on time and I'm currently an SHO on ITU and leave on time (within 15mins) 90% of the time.

Each hospital is soooo different though! I think most acute medical wards are busy - I left 2hrs late on average every day on my Resp placement.

Reply 7

twmffat_twp

What is this mysterious speciality that you would like to apply to but are not too sure that you'll get in at the first go? Knowing might help us figure out what would be more up your street and what might help you to build up an application next time round.

Reply 8

AnonymousPenguin

Original post by twmffat_twp

Well you can kind of figure it out by competitiveness, it'll either be radiology or opthalmology. Presumably if one wanted to do opth, then CST was the way to go here. Everything else is less competitive than CMT (going by competition ratios). The only one other big one would be anaesthetics, but that's about 2:1 as well.

My 2 cents are on radiology, and AFAIK loads of people apply to CMT or GPST as backup. The application stats show that only 300 (out of 900) applied to just radiology. Can we stop shaming this guy now?

Reply 9

twmffat_twp

Original post by AnonymousPenguin

That's what I was thinking- the only other competitive small specialities I could think of was runthrough neurosurgery, ortho or cardiothoracis, or public health.

The reason I was asking was that for opthalmology, GPST would be a good shout. I know of several GP trainees that have done Opthalm SHO jobs as GPST1s (but I don't know if this is a local peculiarity), and expectations of GP SHOs tend to be lower than that of CMTs in terms of being pressurised to step up on understaffed rotas etc. GP would also be better for public health.

CST would presumably be a much better for radiology and the run through surgical programmes, and might be cushier than CMT depending on rotation. My pal is currently a CT1 in Paeds Surgery, and its pretty protected. I know other CT1s on Gen Surg and Urology that are being slowly destroyed-by-rota though..... However, for obvious reasons the pressure to step up and carry the reg bleep is lower at CST1 than CMT1 though.

I'm not trying to shame anyone- its an anonymous post on a public forum asking for advice, and I don't think I was disrespectful.

Reply 10

AnonymousPenguin

Original post by twmffat_twp

I'm not trying to shame anyone- its an anonymous post on a public forum asking for advice, and I don't think I was disrespectful.

I don't think you are, sorry, it wasn't directed at you. There were a few less than helpful comments higher up.

Reply 11

fishfacesimpson

I don't think any cmt programme is cushy. It's probably the worst training programme of all for being abused with the rota, expectations of you and general hatred of life. There will be regional variability though but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a "backup". I know lots do put it down as a 2nd choice though but think that a lot of that is familiarity with the role of "medical sho"

Reply 12

pteller20

Thanks everyone for some really genuinely helpful advice -- leaning a lot more towards GPST1 now.
(also didn't realise how few ACCS-AM jobs there were, which was another reason I was looking into CMT)

I think my priority is to maintain my sanity really!

With how general GPST1 rotations usually are, I assume this won't be seen as inferior to CMT rotations, in terms of how it is seen at reapplication?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

fishfacesimpson

Reapplication is all about relevance of what you did and how you utilised your time "away" before having another go at your specialty of choice. If anyone convinces you cmt carries any prestige over something else they need their heads tested. I don't know if gp is more or less relevant to your chosen field.