Updates on Basic Specialist Training and Higher Specialist Training Taught Programmes
The BST Taught Programme was launched in July 2023 for all Trainees in Year 1 Basic Specialist Training (BST) and it was received with positive feedback and engagement. The programme will continue to roll out for Year 2 BST Trainees in July 2024.
July 2024 will also see the rollout of the new Higher Specialist Training (HST) Taught Programme to all incoming Year 1 HST Trainees. This is a pre-allocated, mandatory programme of teaching and consists of a series of modular elements spread across the years of training. Teaching will be a combination of online, live online tutorials and in-person workshops covering the core professional skills requirements of the training curriculum. Click here (PDF, 475.5 KB) for a full description of the new HST Taught Programme. This information will also be available in the training curriculum for each HST specialty.
A full review of all mandatory teaching for BST and HST programmes has been underway since early 2022 here in RCPI.
The aim of this project is to design a formal education programme for BST and HST to incorporate current topics delivered in tutorials, study days and mandatory courses into the programme. The programme is designed to be delivered in modules to ensure formal education components of the curriculum are relevant and provided at the correct stage of training.
Trainees will also complete specialty-specific courses and workshops as part of the programme. Workshops are offered regularly throughout the year and Trainees will receive notifications advising when and how to book them.
Returning and newly appointed RCPI Tutors will be responsible for the facilitation of the live virtual tutorials to BST and HST Trainees. In Internal Medicine, Dr Mary Nwaezeigwe, Dr Maria Gabriella Rizzo, Dr Roxana Tudor and Dr Sarah Heywood will facilitate tutorials along with Dr Karen Dennehy, Dr Anne-Marie Sweeney, Dr Nicholas Power, Dr Jeffrey Harte and Dr Cillian Hurst who will teach as part of the ICET programme. Additionally, Dr Sinead McGlacken-Byrne and Dr Kate O’Halloran will join for General Paediatrics, Dr Lindsey Clarke and Dr Sarah Ni Mhaolcatha for Histopathology, Dr Caoimhe Brennan for Pathology, Dr Ellen Cosgrave for Public Health Medicine and Dr Yulia Ulfa Shahabuddin for Obstetrics & Gynaecology. The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland extends best wishes to all our Tutors as they embark on this exciting new role and the year ahead.
The College would like to extend special thanks to members of the BST and HST Programme Boards and Clinical Leads for their ongoing commitment to the project. Their time and input is much appreciated.