Nov 14, 2018
Sounds about right. #lol #newtrainee #work #funny #ohwell https://www.instagram.com/p/BqJgg0WBGS6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7r5jk66x39dm
seen from Belgium
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from United Arab Emirates
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from United States
Sounds about right. #lol #newtrainee #work #funny #ohwell https://www.instagram.com/p/BqJgg0WBGS6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7r5jk66x39dm
Travel in London
For those of you who are new to London, get used to seeing the logos above everywhere. The TFL website (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/) is a great starting point to plan your routes to work and work out where to move into so that your placements are easily accessible. Travelcard fares are also listed on the site.
It is important to note that not everyone in the consortium lives in Central London and it is up to you where to live. You will not have a choice of which departments you end up at so be flexible and ready to travel.
Radiotherapy
One of the four specialisms available is Radiotherapy. This tends to be the specialism that most trainees do (subject to available places) and has in the past been offered by the Royal Free, UCLH, Queen’s Hospital, Barts, Mount Vernon and Imperial.
The main focus of RT is machine QA and treatment planning. Most centres are able to offer brachytherapy training but the scope of the brachy training varies upon the service available in the department.
Structure of your 3 years as a London North trainee
Unlike some of the other training centres, the structure of the STP for London North trainees differs slightly.
The first 3 months of your training (mid September to end of December) will be spent full time at King’s where your lectures will cover the basics of medical physics with an exam in December.
In December you will find out where you will be placed for your rotations. This is determined by the Training coordinator and subject to change. Expect to be going to 4 different hospitals with no say on where you will be placed. The following 12 months (January to Dec) will be spent doing your 4 rotational placements which are roughly 3 months each. At the end of Nov/beginning of Dec your Training Coordinator will ask you to rank your choices of specialism from 1 to 4. THERE IS NO SCOPE FOR CHOOSING WHERE YOU WILL BE PLACED FOR YOUR SPECIALISM. This will be determined by the specialisms on offer. The Training coordinator will do everything in their power to satisfy all trainees but at the end of the day they have to work with what is available as well as the overall industry needs. In case of too many trainees and too little places for a specialism it will go down to an interview with the host departments to determine who gets the places available. It is important to note that in recent memory everyone has been assigned at least their second choice but in most cases first choice placement but this may not always be the case.
Once you have been assigned your specialism you will complete your training with that department. You will have specialist lectures (1-2 weeks) in Spring of your second year with exams in May and some further modules in your 3rd year with exams in December of your second year. From April in your second year to February in your 3rd year you will be working on your MSc research project.
In your third year you will have your final OSFA assessment which will be your final assessment of the training scheme. (More on this later).
I hope that clears some things up!
Journal Club
A monthly journal club is run by the trainees for the trainees typically on a Friday afternoon (15.00-17.30). The idea of the journal club (something which is very common in the scientific community) is to ensure that trainees read around their subjects and maintain a broad view on the scientific developments in their field. Typically two trainees will present two different papers/abstracts which they have read to the rest of the group and lead a discussion on the merits/pitfalls of the paper. Journal clubs are a great way to practice presentation skills in an informal setting and trainees who are presenting at conferences like to use the Journal Club to practice their presentations.
Trainee Meetings
The best part of being in a training consortium is that you will become part of a tight knit trainee group. The London north trainees along with placement supervisors and the Training coordinator meet once a month as a group to discuss progress, issues, difficulties and many more things related to the training scheme. Typically this meeting is held at the Royal Free Hospital on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Presentations from fellow trainees, guest speakers or supervisors usually follow the meeting.
As part of the STP you will be required to study part-time over the 3 years for an MSc in Clinical Sciences at King’s College London. The medical physics department is based in the Faraday building at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell, SE5 9RS. This is where you will be based for 95% of your studies NOT the Strand or Guy’s Campuses.
Location of main hospitals in the London North Medical Physics Training Consortium