Pre-registration house officer

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In the UK until 2005 pre-registration house officer (often abbreviated to PRHO, houseman, or house officer) was the name of the only jobs that were open to medical graduates, who had just passed their final examinations at medical school and had received their medical degrees. Newly qualified doctors are only allowed provisional registration with the General Medical Council, hence their first jobs are prior to full registration with the GMC and these jobs were named pre-registration house officer jobs, and they usually consisted of two six-month jobs; one predominantly involved with general surgery (often being called a house surgeon), and one predominantly involved with general medicine (often being called a house physician). PRHO was the lowest grade in the medical hierarchy of qualified doctors in the National Health Service, and was the doctor most often called by nursing staff to see patients on hospital wards, especially at the most unsocial hours of work shifts. After satisfactory work reports in both house jobs the PRHO gained full registration with the General Medical Council, which is a legal requirement to be able to work in all other medical jobs in the UK. Although the PRHO year was taken after graduating from university, the supervision of the PRHO was the responsibility of the medical school from which the PRHO graduated, and a representative of that medical school was responsible for signing the registration forms which go to the General Medical Council to certify that the PRHO year had been completed successfully. After completing the PRHO year, the junior doctors usually became Senior house officers to further their career in the NHS.

Following changes in postgraduate medical education, from 2005, what was the PRHO year now forms the first year of Foundation Training (Foundation Year 1), and trainees during this year now have the job title of Foundation House Officer 1 instead of PRHO.

In other parts of the world, this stage is generally referred to as medical internship.

[edit] See also

NHS Medical Career Grades
Old System New System (Modernising Medical Careers)
Year 1: Pre-registration House Officer (PRHO) - one year Foundation House Officer - 2 years
Year 2: Senior House Officer (SHO)
a minimum of two years, although often more
Year 3: Specialty Registrar (StR)
in a hospital speciality:
six years
Specialty Registrar (StR)
in general practice:
three years
Year 4: Specialist Registrar
four to six years
GP Registrar- one year
Year 5: General Practitioner
total time in training: 4 years
Years 6-8: General Practitioner
total time in training:
5 years
Year 9: Consultant
total time in training:
minimum 7-9 years
Consultant
total time in training:
8 years
Optional Training may be extended by pursuing
medical research (usually two-three years),
usually with clinical duties as well
Training may be extended by obtaining
an Academic Clinical Fellowship for research.
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