Are there any doctors out there who have had a long break from medicine and managed to get back in?

[backtoworkthistime]

I am medically qualified and fully registered.
After house jobs and then 3 to 4 yrs full time general adult medicine I gave up work due to having children and other family circumstances.
Many years later[18 oh dear] I do feel I would love to somehow get back.
I am not deluded in any way and know that competitive careers are a no no but would love to do something~from psychiatry[have no experience],to medical clinic[is this possible] to an attachment to family planning ~ actually anything!
Have any of you had a similar experience or any advice to offer on this?
Thanks

All going well had my interview with the post grad Dean and she was lovely!
The last time I thought about this seriously was in 1999 can't believe I am 10 yrs older!

So I start on monday on the medical wards!
I have just received my stethoscope the other one died a long time ago!!

It's all black ~ better than that dull grey but decided against pale blue lol.

I also have got a new copy of The Oxford Handbook!

Haven't read it yet!

Any advice will be gratefully received!

Well done you! I hope it all goes well. Erm, advice... beta-blockers are now a good thing in heart failure (unless that's changed again in the 2 years I've been out).

I spent a long time feeling that general medicine was the wrong place for me, but never had the courage to jump, until MMC and a positive pregnancy test coincided! Am now happily a SAHM but would like to go into public health when my next child (due May, fingers crossed) is about 2. Your thread has inspired me to email the Dean for my region to see if there's anything I can do in the meantime to improve my chances. Thank you.

Well done backtowork! Just wanted to backup what smellyeli said earlier - don't worry about your age, there are lots of older medical students/junior doctors about these days - quite a few of us in our forties at my medschool! Good luck for next week!

Thanks very much

Faintly~I know that is odd about the b blockers and exactly the sort of thing that I will have to get to grips with.

I just have to update and absorb as much as I can now.

There seems to be a lot more resources online than there used to be ~ have you seen the medical careers website?

backtoworkthistime how fab - sound slike you made loads of progress. How is it all going ? Have you started your placement yet? Is it going OK.
I have my meeting with the post grad dean tomorrow and am now hugely stressed about it LOL Have also just sort of cobbled together something that could be considered to vaguely resemble a CV....Not sure how it will all go...
Must admit though the thought of doing an OSCE scares me witless...think I may need to go dig some textbooks out of loft LOL
will update after tomorrows meeting

oh sorry - just read your placement starts Monday - good luck! Does it work like a sort of student placement? How long do you have to do placements for? I am assuming that these are unpaid? (not sure how we'll cover childcare costs if I have to do ages of placements!)
Sorry for all the Q's - very nervous for tomorrow!

Good luck Monday

galen Hi!

I have found and chosen this placement myself,through the Human Resources office at the hospital who then had to find the consultants to support me [by the HR staffing officer taking them my "CV" lol and asking them].

The interview with the Post Grad Dean was more about advice and info than a grilling so don't be nervous.

Believe me your CV cannot possibly be more out of date than mine I found it helps to call it a "transition CV", as I have been out of clinical practice for some time.

Good luck ~do you have far to travel?

How did your appointment go galen?

Hi backtowork.... sorry I thought I had updated on here...must have dreamt that LOL
The meeting went well. Post grad dean was nice, not scarey at all LOL She was impressed (to my surprise!) at the experience I had. (also said I looked too young to have that much exerience and 6 DC - made my day LOL)
She was a bit vague though... but generally I think we agreed much the same as you with a view to initial 6 month observer type placement and then hopefully a staff grade post in general adult pyschiatry.
I have contacted HR and they are going to get back to me after approaching consultants...
Main obstacle really is the cost of childcare during unpaid placement...as I still have a 3 yr old and 18 month old...not sure how that will work out really, but am hoping I can do 3 days a week , school hours to keep the costs down...
Part of me is really excited, part of me keeps thinking I should maybe wait another 12 months or so , at least till my 3 yr old is at school... I just remember childcare being so stressful when I worked before...

Anyway I will wiat to hear back from HR about possible placements, then make some childcare enquiries and then take it from there I think...

How is your placement going? Does it feel strange to be back, or like you've never been away? Are you enjoying it? How old are your DC BTW.
Hope it is going well for you.

Oh ...new update ! had an email to see there is a consultant who would be "happy" to have me, and then will employ me as a locum staff grade once she feels I am "safe "LOL with a view to permenant position YAY
It is on ward I have worked on before, and know the consultant (not worked for her though before) and a lot of the staff - so all good!
I have also found a childminder with vacancies ... so looks like it is all systems go!! Now just need to aquire a Psychiatry textbook and get reading LOL

That's great galen well done!
I've had a really good week ~ everyone has been lovely and it's been really interesting... but I feel my age a little and a bit out of my depth.
Common sense is telling me I can't be expected to catch up straight away and just to stick at it but I feel it's a very steep learning curve atm!

Update ~ have done 5 weeks clinical attachment now and have got an sho post starting in december ~ am equally pleased and nervous lol

Hi there, I was so encouraged by this thread. I haven't worked in medicine now for about 5 years. After qualifying in 98 I did house jobs and a year of GP scheme then had DD1. After 3 years and DS decided to change to Pathology and be flexible trainee 2.5 days a week but didn't work out and had to quit after only 4 months due to chidcare issues and the fact that my part-time pay did not cover childcare (in London). Also my job as flexible trainee was parttime in a fulltime post and therefore I was always dumping on my collegues as no-one filled the other 2.5 days! I am now SAHM with 3 children (DD2 is only 20m)and do wonder if I will ever have any kind of career back in medicine...as job would have to fit in with children and very busy husband in clinician Scientist job! But you give me hope...that my gap filled CV may be worth something...!Keep posting your progress! Are there any more SAHM doctors out there? Thankyou!

totallymummy ~ know absolutely where you are coming from and it's not easy is it?

Even now with my youngest at 8 yrs I have sudenly realised I will not be there for the christmas holidays etc !

I clerked in my first patient from the start today in A & E ~ it went quite well but slow and I thought the getting it down on paper bit would be easy but I kept having to go back and add bits in!!

I still need quite a bit of practice I think.

Next stop cardiology ~ I'm hoping to do some over the next few weeks.

I find I need to go over everything to check
1/If I can remember it
2/Find out what has changed
3/See if I can still do it!

Well it's obviously not going to be easy after all this time so I think I just have to keep trying.

Hi, I am new to Mumsnet and only joined because I came across with this "topic" which is very close to my heart right now and I cant discuss it with anybody else(dont know anybody in the same situation as me)
I am a qualified doctor, have a full GMC registration, but very little postgraduate experience(1.5 years).I have been a SAHM for 8 years (3 boys) but keen and hoping to get back to medicine one day. Contacted the Postgraduate Dean (very helpful) and the Medical School, they basically want me to do the final year again, with exams and everything, starting next July.I do worry how we will manage financially (I would have to pay for it, a lot, plus all the childcare expenses) and juggling work, studying, kids...and just wonder if there is a shorter rute (and possibly less expensive) to gain the experience I need. Maybe I should try to arrange my own attachments as some of you did? I didn`t qualify in the UK and not familiar with this system (even though I have lived here for 13 years now)

Hi there, from reading your message my impression is that they are asking you to repeat finals because you qualified from another country rather than your short postgraduate experience. If this is the case you may not be able to take the short cut others have taken with an unpaid clinical assistant type attachment. You need to clarify this with the Dean, otherwise it seems a bit extreme. Hope that's helpful.

Thanks,totallymumy. If thats the case, they never told me ( I dont think it was, since Hungary, where I am from is now in the EU and my degree is fully recognized here, I know a lot of Hungarians who work here as doctors no problem) The Dean suggested me to do a 2 months medical attachment and I was more than happy to do that, was ready to start in November. It was the Medical School who pulled out the last minute saying that I would need significantly more training due to my little experience. That`s why I am a bit upset...but if it is the only way, I will do it, I guess, just a bit disappointed at the moment (was looking forward to the attachment and an F1 job in February, actually earning money not spending thousands more on training)But I know, it was never going to be easy.

Hi, there. It all does seem a bit unfair, especially if the Dean was happy for you to proceed. Being from another country is only thing I could think of! I guess repeating some of med school could be to do with the introduction this year of revalidation?
Good Luck.

Thanks. I have agreed now to do the final year, but will keep my eyes open for other possibilities. Wonder what else I could do with my (little rusty) medical knowledge...How about you, totallymummy? Are you any futher with investigating your options? Good luck to you too

Hi , this has been very interesting as I will be facing the same decisions in a few years time. I am a fully trained GP and worked as a retainer (4 sessions) until my second child was born. Was due to go back after a year but my heart really wasn't in it. My practice could not extend my contract for financial reasons and I have taken the huge leap of being a SAHM for a few years.
I do want to go back someday, maybe not to GP though, and it is great to hear how people are doing it.
Does anyone know how the new GMC licensing will affect returners? How many more hoops will we have to jump through?

Hi thechewytoffee [good name]
I applied for[and got] a license before I was back at work ~ being employed didn't really come into the granting of the license as such.

The key thing in my case is going back at a lower and more protected level than I worked at previously and also doing the clinical attachment to get a feel for it and some experience.