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How is the role of clinical fellow different from that of senior house officer?
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- Justin Stebbing , specialist registrar in medical oncology
- pan Thames rotation
Got a career or related problem that needs answering? Can't find the right person to point you in the right direction? Log on to the Advice Zone ( www.bmjcareers.com/advicezone ) for reliable medical careers advice. You can post a question or see if one of our 300 advisers has already answered a similar question. Here is a selection of questions and answers posted on the site.
This is a really great question in a grey area. A clinical fellow is just like a very senior senior house officer (SHO) or a very junior specialist registrar (SpR). But—and this is a big but—you are expected to produce papers for your unit on a research topic directed by the consultant.
So in short, you are assigned clinics and specific clinical duties which are appreciably fewer than those of normal full time clinical staff. In the rest of your time, you do research, usually a clinical research project with the specific goal of writing, submitting, and publishing at least one paper. This also includes going to scientific meetings and conferences, giving lectures about your research, and submitting abstracts to those conferences.
If you have a good boss who can help you, this is a good thing to do. Your boss must be able to spend time with you to guide you properly. The unit should have at least one research nurse to show you the ropes, and you should have a proper place to sit and work.
The reality can be harsher in that clinical fellows always seem to end up standing in for people when they miss a clinic or are on holiday. If there was a fellow before you, you should check that he or she did not have this problem.
Finally and most importantly, you should be genuinely interested in the research project that is offered alongside the clinical duties. This includes asking the important question of whether you could extend the clinical fellowship into an MD. The difference is surmountable and you can do an MD by being a clinical fellow for a year and then taking six months to write up your research.
On the whole, it's a great experience as long as you can produce a paper and your clinical work does not overburden you. Good luck.
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