Hi all,
I'm a Plastic Surgeon living in the UK but who came over to Manhattan last year to observe Dr Aston at MEETH, funded by our national society.
I'm presenting some of my observations back to the society, and one of the things I was going to focus on was how well-structured I found your training programme compared with our own for cosmetic surgery. I think as a professional body and a nation we recognise that the industry needs to be better regulated than it currently is, and I intend to state that a model of resident/fellow training as I observed at MEETH would not be a bad place to start.
As I write my presentation now, though, it occurs to me that I have next to no idea about how you are paid, and therefore how this could translate over here. Basically, in the UK trainee Plastic Surgeons are paid a salary by their NHS hospital, which is set nationally, and a percentage bonus depending on the intensity of out-of-hours work, which is agreed locally. Part of the reason for inconsistent cosmetic training over here is that there is no exposure to it within an NHS setting at all (all cosmetic work is done in the private sector) so trainees depend on getting on well with their consultant, being invited to assist them privately and giving up their spare time to do so (almost certainly breaching working hours laws in doing so). The alternative is to do a dedicated cosmetic fellowship (what I did; well actually I did both).
Over there I saw Fellows at a private institution (MEETH), supernumerary for all but training cases. In training cases the supervising consultant scrubbed but stepped back unless needed. So, are the Fellows paid a salary by MEETH? If so - why? (they don't bring money into the hospital, except on their training cases - at which a consultant is also present anyway). If not, how do they survive? I can imagine a model whereby they aren't paid much of a salary but are paid a portion of the proceeds from the cases they bring to the hospital - is that the case? Similarly, the Fellow clinic gives free cosmetic consultations - how is that funded? (staffing, administrative costs, use of the facility etc). Do residents/fellows have to work other medical jobs whilst doing their main one. As you can probably tell I'm seriously confused by how you make it work! I'd be very grateful if someone could fill me in.
Many thanks,
F
I'm a Plastic Surgeon living in the UK but who came over to Manhattan last year to observe Dr Aston at MEETH, funded by our national society.
I'm presenting some of my observations back to the society, and one of the things I was going to focus on was how well-structured I found your training programme compared with our own for cosmetic surgery. I think as a professional body and a nation we recognise that the industry needs to be better regulated than it currently is, and I intend to state that a model of resident/fellow training as I observed at MEETH would not be a bad place to start.
As I write my presentation now, though, it occurs to me that I have next to no idea about how you are paid, and therefore how this could translate over here. Basically, in the UK trainee Plastic Surgeons are paid a salary by their NHS hospital, which is set nationally, and a percentage bonus depending on the intensity of out-of-hours work, which is agreed locally. Part of the reason for inconsistent cosmetic training over here is that there is no exposure to it within an NHS setting at all (all cosmetic work is done in the private sector) so trainees depend on getting on well with their consultant, being invited to assist them privately and giving up their spare time to do so (almost certainly breaching working hours laws in doing so). The alternative is to do a dedicated cosmetic fellowship (what I did; well actually I did both).
Over there I saw Fellows at a private institution (MEETH), supernumerary for all but training cases. In training cases the supervising consultant scrubbed but stepped back unless needed. So, are the Fellows paid a salary by MEETH? If so - why? (they don't bring money into the hospital, except on their training cases - at which a consultant is also present anyway). If not, how do they survive? I can imagine a model whereby they aren't paid much of a salary but are paid a portion of the proceeds from the cases they bring to the hospital - is that the case? Similarly, the Fellow clinic gives free cosmetic consultations - how is that funded? (staffing, administrative costs, use of the facility etc). Do residents/fellows have to work other medical jobs whilst doing their main one. As you can probably tell I'm seriously confused by how you make it work! I'd be very grateful if someone could fill me in.
Many thanks,
F
