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NEMSA.net |
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Nottingham and East Midlands School of Anaesthesia on the net |
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Out of Programme Training/Research (OOPT/R) |
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Working Out of Programme There are a number of reasons why a trainee may make a request to leave their NEMSA clinical training programme for a period of time. This may be for training, OOPT, experience OOPE, or research OOPR opportunities which are either not available in NEMSA or must be taken out of programme. Most commonly the reason is to take up a training opportunity which is not available within the NEMSA programme – examples of this would be a fellowship in advanced paediatric anaesthesia or a placement in medicine for a trainee with an interest in ICM. A number of trainees also wish to undertake a period of time doing research related to anaesthesia. Within NEMSA we now have two 12 month research fellowships, and a regional anaesthesia fellowship available within the programme, but there are also local research opportunities available out of programme.
All out of programme time, OOT ( OOPE, OOPR and OOPT), should be discussed with the Training Programme Director before applications are made. All requests for out of programme time ,OOT, need to be made well in advance (absolute minimum six months) to the Training Programme Director (Grainne O’Dwyer). All requests should be made before applying for any posts. All training out of programme requires prospective approval from the Deanery, the RCA and PMETB if the time spent during the period of training is going to count towards the CCT.
The attached documents outline the process and include the forms that the trainee must submit. It is important to map the training opportunities on offer to the RCA curriculum in order to provide evidence for the approval process. This can be seem rather daunting and we will advise on this part of the application on if requested. It is possible for a trainee to have a period of time out of programme whilst retaining their NTN, which does not count towards CCT. This may be for experience which is not approved by PMETB (eg in a developing country) or for a career break. These requests will have a lower priority than those made for training reasons.
A number of factors are taken into consideration before requests are approved: · How important is this request for the trainee’s career plans – essential or desirable? · Is a similar or identical opportunity available within the NEMSA programme? · How will the trainee’s absence impact on the training of others?
On the whole most requests are looked upon positively. However approval of OOT is not a given and trainees should not make plans until permission for OOT has been improved. Requests will not usually be considered until the trainee has passed the fellowship exam and is on track to achieve their intermediate training certificate. There are exceptions to this rule, eg medical placements for those requiring this for ICM. Requests will only be approved if a trainee is on a RITA C or the ARCP 1 outcome as it is not possible to provide targeted or supervised training out of programme.
If you wish to seek informal advice then please get in touch with Dr Grainne O’Dwyer or Dr Andy Norris (RCA Regional Advisor). For advice regarding research opportunities, Prof Alan Aitkenhead or Prof Ravi Mahajan should be contacted.
G O’Dwyer 14/05/10
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