Foundation year for newly qualified doctors: Will this development benefit overseas doctors?

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7518.697-b

BMJ 2005;331:697 (24 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7518.697-b

Letter

Foundation year for newly qualified doctors

Will this development benefit overseas doctors?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The foundation programme brings a welcome changeto the training system in the United Kingdom.¹ Having passedthe exams of the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board(PLAB) in 2000, I worked in UK hospitals as a house officerfor six months before being kicked out to another hospital andthen another. Finally, after working in six different hospitalsand obtaining membership of the Royal College of Physicians(MRCP), I got a post as a specialist registrar.

By this time I had completed the US medical licensing examsand moved to the United States. The training, which is similarto the foundation programme, includes rotating among differentsubspecialties. I was attached to one hospital, which createda special bond to serve this hospital. No major examinationsare involved in residency. This helped me to concentrate onclinical work.

I hope the foundation system will start in every hospital in. . . [Full text of this article]

Satya S Toram, resident

Unity Health System, Rochester, NY 14626, USA storam@unityhealth.org