Foundation Programme - How to succeed
You should be aware that during your
Foundation Programme you will be responsible for taking
control of your learning. This may feel slightly strange after
spending 5 years at medical school but it is to enable you to start
to operate at a greater level of independent learning than you
perhaps have been used to.
You will need to ensure that all your assessments
are completed and that you attend your teaching sessions. It is
vitally important that you keep your Portfolio / E-portfolio up
to date and that you seek out opportunities to learn as much as
possible during your Foundation Years.
You should get involved with all members of the
health team, not just doctors. Nurses, Physiotherapists and other
Allied Health Professionals (AHP) will give you a full overview of
the activities that are carried out within the hospital.
Competition into Specialty Training can be fierce
and you will need to stand out from the crowd to succeed. During
your Foundation Years you should be proactive and look for
opportunities to enhance your application. You could do this
by:
Reviewing how something is done and comparing
this to what should actually be happening according to
guidelines.
If you haven't completed an audit before you may
find it useful to read the advice on audits we give to medical students. We also
include a case-study on an audit carried
out by a foundation trainee.
Gain confidence presenting to colleagues and
peers. You could seek out opportunities to present at:
- Departmental Meetings
- Regional Events
- National Seminars
Perhaps you could present your findings from an
audit you have carried out?
You should discuss with your Educational Supervisor if there are
any opportunities for you help out with teaching. Participants
could be medical students, foundation doctors, or a
multi-disciplinary team. The teaching could be ward based, as part
of a journal club (see below), a lecture or a tutorial.
If you are interested in doing a teaching course, the Royal
Society of Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and
Apply2Medicine, Oxford Medical often organise one or two day
courses suitable for foundation trainees.
You maybe able to attend courses as part of your study days. You
should investigate courses that will add value to your personal
development and you can discuss this with your Educational
Supervisor. Our what's on guide can help
with this.
If you could write an interesting paper and get this published
this would make you a very interesting candidate for specialty
training indeed.
The Royal
Society of Medicine also awards prizes for publications for
trainees.
Another idea is to write something for the Foundation
Years Journal.
Organising 1 or 2 taster sessions during
your foundation years can help you to further explore a
specialty.
Speaking to a range of consultants, specialty trainees in a
specialty that you are interested in can help in your career
exploration. It will help with your career decision and also at
interview where you can demonstrate commitment to that
specialty. Look out for careers fairs or Royal College events etc,
where you may have the opportunity to speak to people. Visit our
events calendar for some ideas. You will
find that on the whole people are happy to be approached and to
talk about their roles.
Read the following case-studies:
- case-study 1 -
written by an F1 trainee on making the most of the foundation
years.
- case-study 2 about the development
of a Foundation Trainee Forum &
- case-study 3 about a
successful audit that was carried out.
- case-study 4 -
written by a trainee who applied in F1 to do an academic F2
post
- case-study 5 -
written by an Academic F2 trainee on medical leadership
There is also an interesting article in the
BMJ Careers section by Elizabeth Hood and Aneel Bhangu in which
they give good advice on how to make the most of the Foundation
Programme.
You can also watch our short video-cast which features an ST1 trainee
talking about his experiences of how he made the most of the
foundation years