How To Become A Medical Professional
2 min readBecoming a medical professional is more than a career choice, it’s a lifestyle. You will be required to complete a challenging series of training programmes as well as obtaining a medical degree which takes at least five years. However, it can be an extremely rewarding career and one that you will love.
In order to build a successful career as a medical professional, you will need to take the following steps.
Table of Contents
Earning A Medical Degree At University
Gaining a medical degree is the first step you will need to take. Entry for medical degrees is competitive, so you will need strong grades as well as work experience in a caring role to be considered. You may not be successful in gaining entry onto a course the first time around, so if this is the case you should spend more time gaining experience in hospitals or care settings.
As part of your degree, you will attend lectures as well as working in hospitals under the supervision of consultants. You may need to be flexible on your location as you will be matched with GP surgeries and hospitals that have a requirement at the time.
Completing A Foundation Programme
When you first start working as a doctor, you will continue to learn and be assessed for a further two years. In this time, you will complete various placements and cover different areas of medicine while earning a salary. Upon completing this training, you will receive the Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion(FPCC).
Speciality Training
Next, you can continue to work and complete GP training (which takes around three years) or go into training for a medical speciality (five to eight years). This can include further exams and assessments.
Specialists focus on one medical area, for example, emergency medicine, surgery, psychiatry or anaesthetics. If you go down the route of becoming a specialist surgeon, you will want to look into getting medical indemnity insurance from a specialist provider like Incision Indemnity. Even within your specialist area, you can develop a further speciality such as neurosurgery, paediatric surgery or plastic surgery.
Apply For Consultant Or GP Job Opportunities
Once you have achieved consultant or GP (General Practitioner) status you can start the process of applying for opportunities in your field. For example, you may explore Jooble for current openings for general practitioners.
Bringing It All Together
If you are considering entering into a career as a medical professional, you will need to be aware that your training will be long and on-going. Before committing to investing your time and money on medical training, you should conduct thorough research and ensure that it is the right path for you. It is a unique career that can be demanding and stressful, so it has to be something you will love.