segs

Hello there,
I hope you can help on this 'medical training/qualifications' question

What evidence can a current UK salaried GP of 3 years standing provide to 'prove' competency in paediatrics and emergency medicine to the various provincial medical colleges if the said GP did not do a paediatrics or emergency medicine rotation during GPVTS training?

Rotations completed were
Medicine
Psychiatry
ENT/Opthamology
Obs and Gynae
And GP registrar year


Any advice would be appreciated especially if you've come across someone who has overcome this 'deficiency'

Thanks in advance

Auld Yin

It's highly unlikely anyone on this forum would be able to answer such a question. You should contact the Phycian governing body in the Province in which you're interested. For Ontario I think that would be:-
https://www.oma.org/Pages/default.aspx

segs

Thanks Auld Yin for your reply
Apologies for the technical question all, I am hoping to get a reply from the likes of

Very_Optimistic
stavex
John456
GeDe
sue.robinson and
snoopdawg who I think may have suggestions

I know they may only visit the forum rarely but i'm keeping my fingers crossed

snoopdawg

You called!!
Amazing the power of forums!
Amazing also that we had the exact same problem!
One of us needed paeds, the other paeds and A&E.
We were focused on BC and Healthmatch BC were the ones to help us.
The A&E was easy as OH had done orthopaedics, ENT, some maxillofacial surgery, plus medicine /surgery so we successfully had that approved but we did get a letter from his orthopaedic consultant saying how much emergency involvement there was in that job- so you would struggle.
Paediatrics!! Basically we had to do!
So for several months on any day off and one day each weekend, we would head down to our local teaching hospital ( an hour from home) and sit in clinics, do consultant ward rounds and see kids sent in by GPs just like ourselves. It was useful at times ( clinics) and useless the rest of the time- as GPs for many years, we knew far more than the junior docs but had fun with the consultants who would roll their eyes at us frequently when some over keen junior doc would suggest something.
It was very different from our training days as the consultants treated us quite differently and often asked for our opinion rather than just as a "test".
We decided we would need something in writing in case ,so kept a log of all kids seen with learning points etc.We also printed off useful information to attach to show we had done the work.
At the end we sat down with the head of the department and went through it all, he then wrote a nice letter which was accepted by the College here.
What you will need to do,is decide which Province you want to go to and negotiate with them, make it clear you already have a full time job, so what will they accept.
I'm guessing you'll get a different answer from each College- I hear Saskatchewan really needs docs!!!!
It will be a pain and will delay you a bit but you are very young and time is on your side which we didn't have. It depends how much you want to move!

segs

Thank you!
It's my husband. I'm a psychiatrist and you very helpfully gave me some advice about MCCEE a few months ago which I passed.

2 more questions please please...
1] Would a letter from the current lead GP about paediatric experience and competence in his current 'walk in/GMS practice' do? or one from ENT to say that most of the ENT presentations were children?
2] How long did you do the 'paediatric attachment' for?

We're looking at BC/Ontario
Thanks a lot

snoopdawg

Well done re the MCCEE
The rest will ok as as well!
Re the paediatrics- I can only speak for BC and things may have changed- although I doubt it!- I had been a GP for about 18 years when I moved here- it counted for nothing, OH had also been a GP for years and done ENT- again- counted for nothing when it came to paediatrics- I think it's such an important speciality they will want something from you.
How long did we do it- about 6 months!!! We took it quite seriously as we wanted it to be approved.
It was hard as we were both working- had 2 kids and a dog! OH was doing out of hours work also.
If you look you'll see a lot of people on here have had to do similar depending on their profession, it's just one of many hurdles! Three and a half years after arriving, I've still a hurdle or two to jump although I'm getting tired of them now!

segs

Ok
We'll roll up our sleeves and get stuck into 'hurdle jumping' then
Thanks

snoopdawg

I know you'll be feeling frustrated now!! So some motivational photos
View at our local ski hill a few days ago and view from our deck in the summer- it was worth it!!! ( never attached photos before so I hope it works!)
Remember also that the majority of immigrant docs are from South Africa- they are well trained, hard working and highly motivated- the colleges have no need to change things for us.
But maybe things have changed - so contact them all and see!

Jani123

Congrats on Passing the MCCEE.
I had a similar problem when I was trying for BC.
In the end I opted for AB as I just could not get any Paeds jobs/attachments.
Please check the CPSA website as for AB your husband already has all the experience.
This does mean he will have to go through a 2 week assessment and 3 month supervision.
http://www.cpsa.ab.ca/Services/Regis...x#Requirements

Best of luck

segs

Thank you Jani123
we will follow up on your advice as well
Is the 2 month assessment/3 month supervision period in Alberta counted as employment
i.e does one get a salary?

Thank you

Jani123

There is a 2 'WEEK' assessment which is not paid.
The 3 month supervision period you can bill as normal.

Hope this helps.

snoopdawg

Agreed Alberta looks easier than BC but you have to decide if you want to live there.
If you do ,often communities will pay good money to attract you but you have to think why!!! You're also more likely to have to do ER,hospital maybe even OBS.When I say hospital, I mean being responsible for patients who would be in a high dependency unit in the UK and in the ER , being THE doc not just a junior etc.
I can tell you, a lot of immigrant GPs start off in the likes of rural Alberta and Saskatchewan, stay for a few years then move to BC- ( there are lots in the town I live in) there must be a reason and its not money!!
Seriously, you'll have no problem getting jobs where ever you want, so think where you want to live, lifestyle etc , then if you have to do a bit extra to get it, it'll be worth it.

Medix

I know this thread has been quiet for a few days but it is exactly the people I am looking for advice from. I qualified recently, ensured I did the rotations during VTS and have fortunately been approved for registration by the BC college. I am nervously awaiting TWP approval (I try not to think about it...). I plan to work in metro Vancouver if it all works out - all done via Healthmatch BC.

I would really appreciate some 'home truths' from those of you GP'ing in everyday life... I may have dodged a bullet with hospital privileges - I searched an old post of snoopdawg's about this (I'm not contractually required to do this which the Health Authority are getting huffy about) but I'm not entirely sure what's expected of me other than the office based stuff. I wonder what to prep up on currently to prepare me for daily practice.

Any advice/warnings would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Jani123

I think you will have to decide where you want to move.
Here is a link to the job ops in Alberta along with links for more information.
http://www.albertaphysicianlink.ab.ca/
Checked earlier about 42 jobs in Calgary, and 17 in Edmonton, these will 'Not' offer you any incentives to move as you will be moving to an Urban area.
Hope this helps.

Medix

Sorry, I should have made it clearer, I already have a confirmed job in metro Vancouver (I always wanted an urban post - I did actually meet with the Alberta guys too at the RCGP conference and consider Calgary/Edmonton originally). I've been approved for provisional registration with the BC College arranged ().

I'm at the stage where I'm gearing up to actually start practice (all being well with the TWP process) and wanted advice/insights from you guys who are actually practicing as every day GP's on differences in UK and Canadian Primary Care practice - or even things that helped you transition.