F2 - which rotation to do for GP?

Hiya, am interested in applying for GP training in, currently doing F1 atm. are there any recommended rotations to do in f2 before we apply for GP training?

Reply 1

Elles

17

Ideally have a GP post 1st or 2nd in the year to help make your mind up it's what you want to do and it might make the selection process a bit easier.

Other than that - pretty much any speciality jobs as an FY2 can be relevant, even more general medicine/general surgery so probably just pick what you think you would enjoy? If you're super organized and know where you want to apply to VTS and what rotations they have then maybe things that would complement rather than duplicate..?

My top picks of useful specialities for GP in foundation or VTS are:

A&E
Paediatrics
Psychiatry
Obs&Gynae
Care of the Elderly
Palliative Care
Sexual Health / GUM

& provided you get a rounded experience/to go to clinics etc:
Dermatology
ENT
Public health

Reply 2

Ghotay

13

My top picks would be very similar. I would probably say:

A&E
Paediatrics
Psychiatry
Obs&Gynae
Care of the Elderly

ENT

I would argue that PallCare is useful but you could cover in gerries, and GUM is just tedious imo. Gen surg could also be a good placement. Abdominal pain is a very common presenting complaint and recognising a surgical abdomen is a useful skill.

Remember that rotations including in GP training are variable, so anything you were looking to get in F2 but missed you may well be able to get in GPST.

Reply 3

Elles

17

Original post by Ghotay

I would argue that PallCare is useful but you could cover in gerries, and GUM is just tedious imo. Gen surg could also be a good placement. Abdominal pain is a very common presenting complaint and recognising a surgical abdomen is a useful skill.

Remember that rotations including in GP training are variable, so anything you were looking to get in F2 but missed you may well be able to get in GPST.

Agree definitely need some general surgery for the acute surgical take - thought it was mandatory for all Foundation rotations though? Same with some acute medicine take!

I did CoE but it didn't really have any palliative care in, unfortunately. Although day hospital cover was particularly useful for community/hospital care overlap.
GUM can be a little tedious - I had 3 months of a combined GUM/sexual health/HIV job which was about right - I think as a female GP particularly a Urology or GUM job can be helpful to get confident with male genital examinations as they're not that frequent otherwise. Also easily to get deskilled in contraception as practice nurses do lots but then the more complex stuff may come to you.

My top picks are more than would fit in foundation and a 3 year VTS though! :tongue:

Reply 4

Ghotay

13

Original post by Elles

Agree definitely need some general surgery for the acute surgical take - thought it was mandatory for all Foundation rotations though? Same with some acute medicine take!

Nope, I haven't done any gen surg in foundation. My only surgical job was ortho. Pretty sure most people I know haven't done acute med either

Reply 5

nexttime

22

Original post by Elles

Agree definitely need some general surgery for the acute surgical take - thought it was mandatory for all Foundation rotations though? Same with some acute medicine take!

No not at all!

The only mandatory thing is an outpatient rotation - GP, psych, or occasionally something else like rehab medicine or community paeds.

Reply 6

Elles

17

Original post by nexttime

No not at all!

The only mandatory thing is an outpatient rotation - GP, psych, or occasionally something else like rehab medicine or community paeds.

I am old & out of date then! That sounds dire to me...

I think Foundation programmes should all have a medicine and surgical job that involves acute general take/post take rounds even it's a speciality ward/job the rest of the time e.g.I did Gastro/Gen Med & Breast/Gen Surg in FY1. Everyone seemed to have 1 of each somewhere in their programme. & I think every foundation doctor should get some experience in A&E and GP - other outpatient stuff can wait till speciality training...

Reply 7

nexttime

22

Original post by Elles

I am old & out of date then! That sounds dire to me...

I think Foundation programmes should all have a medicine and surgical job that involves acute general take/post take rounds even it's a speciality ward/job the rest of the time e.g.I did Gastro/Gen Med & Breast/Gen Surg in FY1. Everyone seemed to have 1 of each somewhere in their programme. & I think every foundation doctor should get some experience in A&E and GP - other outpatient stuff can wait till speciality training...

I think they changed it so that the hospitals could allocate FY1s to where they needed the workforce.

I personally find CMT more shocking - in theory you can be the med reg running the hospital alone at night with no gastro, cardio OR resp jobs under your belt! And that won't change with the new IMT.

Reply 8

Helenia

20

Original post by Elles

I am old & out of date then! That sounds dire to me...

I think Foundation programmes should all have a medicine and surgical job that involves acute general take/post take rounds even it's a speciality ward/job the rest of the time e.g.I did Gastro/Gen Med & Breast/Gen Surg in FY1. Everyone seemed to have 1 of each somewhere in their programme. & I think every foundation doctor should get some experience in A&E and GP - other outpatient stuff can wait till speciality training...

I didn't do gen surg in foundation at all either - did ortho and O&G in F1, and A&E (which is apparently "surgical" enough) in F2.

Reply 9

Democracy

20

I think there's a lot of variation in what we've all been told and I suspect a lot of it is region dependent. For example, I thought that community jobs were only mandatory in certain deaneries and not across the whole of the Foundation Programme - if this is not the case, this is the first I've heard of it. Similarly, I thought the only compulsory foundation job is inpatient medicine - I didn't think it was possible to gain full registration without at least four months spent on an acute medical ward :dontknow:

I do know of one classmate at medical school who went to a rather far flung location for foundation years and had no surgical jobs at all (not even ortho/ENT/urology/O&G). I did a urology job in FY1 (with general surgery on calls) and O&G in FY2. So it's all highly variable I think.

Reply 10

Anonymous #1

I did not have a community placement in my Foundation Programme (albeit I did AFP), so I suspect that can't be mandatory everywhere.

Reply 11

seaholme

19

I got through foundation without ever doing general surgery as well, although I did do two specialist surgery blocks. When I did A&E as an F2 I was never really that confident dealing with surgical presentations, mostly because all I'd ever done was Ortho... Didn't even do any general surgery placements in medical school, on the surgical blocks I somehow got recurrently allocated to Vascular!

Medical training is pretty stupid on that front, almost as if nobody put any thought into it at all...
I think everybody should do acute/general med and general surgery in foundation. And for CMT you should get to do the three core specialties too if you've not done them in foundation.

For GP I think you should definitely try to do paeds and O&G. I found that I saw a lot of patients with those problems, especially the latter as a female, if you're a female GP gynae gravitates towards you whether you like it or not. They're areas where a bit of experience would do you the world of good. Dermatology and ENT also useful but I think you can pick those skills up more easily when cast out into the world of community medicine. I wouldn't try to do A&E because VTS trainees are cannon fodder on that rota, I would be surprised if you could make it through VTS without having to do a lengthy A&E placement, I even know a few poor souls who had to do it twice.

(edited 5 years ago)

F2 - which rotation to do for GP?

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