Kasiakogia K, Christodoulou N
C1ST6 Forensic Psychiatry, West of Scotland.
University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Psychiatriki. 2014 Jan-Mar;25(1):55-60.
In recent years there has been a strong trend of emigration of Greek medical doctors. The reason for this phenomenon is certainly multifactorial, but it has been greatly exacerbated due to the latest financial crisis. The United Kingdom is one of the most popular destinations amongst emigrating Greek psychiatric doctors, as reflected by official data and by the sheer volume of requests for information received by the United Kingdom Division of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association. There are many systemic and practical differences between the Greek and the United Kingdom health systems, which complicate training and further career decisions. These complex differences make it hard for psychiatric doctors to decide which steps to take, and often result in them making the "wrong" decision. These "wrong" decisions are very often the result of poor information or misinformation. For instance many doctors are confused about the equivalence of training and service grades between Greece and the United Kingdom, what a good portfolio means, or the significance of the MRCPsych exam. This information exists, sometimes in comprehensive ways on the internet, but for doctors who are not familiar with the system, finding this information can be a time-consuming and laborious task. Therefore, providing a starting point with realistic and useful information about psychiatric training and generally career progression in the United Kingdom to Greek psychiatric doctors has become very important. The United Kingdom Division of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association has decided to pick up the role of providing exactly that information. The first part of this two-piece paper provides a starting point for Greek doctors considering the move to the United Kingdom for training and/or work in psychiatry. Firstly, it gives a general overview of psychiatric training in the United Kingdom, and explains that the pragmatic equivalence between training stages between Greece and the United Kingdom often differs from the formal equivalence. It also explains the salient differences between the Greek and the United Kingdom's health systems and highlights some common pitfalls. Furthermore, it explains some career options psychiatric trainees and specialists can follow in the UK, including clinical and academic training and service posts. The second part of this paper explores in more detail the structure and inner workings of psychiatric training, again emphasising the important differences between the Greek and the United Kingdom's training systems, and highlighting those differences that may be useful to a transitioning doctor. This diptych is meant to be informative, not advisory, and thus is not meant to either encourage or discourage the migration of interested parties.
近年来，希腊医生移民的趋势愈演愈烈。造成这一现象的原因当然是多方面的，但最近的金融危机使其大大加剧。英国是希腊精神科医生移民最热门的目的地之一，官方数据以及希腊精神科协会英国分会收到的大量信息请求都反映了这一点。希腊和英国的医疗体系在制度和实际操作上存在诸多差异，这使得培训和未来职业决策变得复杂。这些复杂的差异让精神科医生难以决定该采取哪些步骤，常常导致他们做出“错误”的决定。这些“错误”决定往往是信息不足或错误信息造成的。例如，许多医生对希腊和英国培训及服务等级的对等性、一份好的履历意味着什么，或者精神科皇家医师考试的重要性感到困惑。这些信息是存在的，有时在互联网上有全面的介绍，但对于不熟悉该体系的医生来说，找到这些信息可能既耗时又费力。因此，向希腊精神科医生提供关于英国精神科培训及一般职业发展的现实且有用的信息起点变得非常重要。希腊精神科协会英国分会决定承担起提供此类信息的角色。这篇两篇系列文章的第一部分为考虑前往英国进行精神科培训和/或工作的希腊医生提供了一个起点。首先，它对英国的精神科培训进行了总体概述，并解释说希腊和英国培训阶段的实际对等性往往与形式上的对等性不同。它还解释了希腊和英国医疗体系之间的显著差异，并突出了一些常见的陷阱。此外，它解释了精神科实习生和专家在英国可以选择的一些职业道路，包括临床和学术培训以及服务岗位。本文的第二部分更详细地探讨了精神科培训的结构和内部运作，再次强调了希腊和英国培训体系之间的重要差异，并突出了那些对转型医生可能有用的差异。这篇双联文章旨在提供信息，而非提供建议，因此既无意鼓励也无意劝阻相关方移民。
