Foundation

When my batch graduates, we will all be part of the Foundation Programme, which has been established to smoothen the road that was once the domain of PRHO and SHO posts. While the programme has its uses, and is quite ambitious and should be complimented on the variety of clinical exposure handed out to trainees, there is just one teeny weeny problem that hasn't been sorted out yet.

Nobody in the country actually knows what's going to happen after the Foundation Programme.

Naturally, this does not augur well with the trainees. I have no doubt that within the next 2 years, they will come up with a rough guideline of the various steps and protocols that need to be undertaken, but this does not give us time to sit down and have a think about the options that are available to us. I doubt they will change the system much - too much upheavel is just going to piss everyone off, and it's election year in 2005. But Knowing and Guessing are 2 different things, and personally, I don't think I'll be able to properly weigh my career options without knowing what's in store in the various training programmes.

I guess I'm at a stage where I'm actively looking at the various career pathways that are open to me. I don't proclaim to know everything that's available, but I do have a rough idea about what's hot and what's not (for me). And I'm guessing I'm not the only person at this stage in medical education with the same dilemma. Doesn't help matters that I'll have to contemplate the situation in M'sia, and how my choices here will affect my life in M'sia 10 years down the line. Hmm...