Senior house officer

A senior house officer (SHO) is a doctor undergoing specialist training in the United Kingdom National Health Service. A doctor typically works as an SHO for 2-3 years, or occasionally longer, before becoming a registrar. SHOs need to be in posts approved by a postgraduate dean, as well as passing postgraduate exams (such as the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians/MRCP), in order to qualify for a registrar post.

SHO jobs typically last 6 months or multiples of this. Longer SHO posts are typically rotations, where the junior doctor works in different departments or even hospitals consecutively.

In 2002, the Department of Health announced reforms in the training of newly qualified doctors under the banner of "Modernising Medical Careers"ref|1, merging the internship year ("pre-registration house officer", "PRHO" or "house officer") and the first year of SHO training into a "foundation programme". This programme was formally introduced in August 2005.

In 2005, the British Medical Association (BMA) reported that there were insufficient SHO posts available to provide training for newly qualified doctors who had completed their PRHO yearref|2. Postgraduate deans and the Department of Health disputed this.

USA uses

Physicians in training in the United States are also referred to as "senior house officers" in their later years of residency, but the term is more variable in its American than British usage.

References

* [http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pages/home Modernising Medical Careers] , National Health Service page
* [http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/SHOposts SHO jobs crisis survey] (BMA)

ee also

* Junior doctor

External links

* [http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/mig/links/NHS/nhs2.html UK medical training]
* [http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pages/home MMC home page]