Foundation Year 2 5-day tasters
Each FY2 trainee is required to participate in 1 5-day 'taster' programme in a speciality of his or her choice, in order to gain experience working in a speciality that they would not otherwise be exposed to. The F2 taster is particularly useful to:
a) show the F2 trainee exactly what it is like to work in the speciality they are interested in as a career and
b) provide extra material to show as evidence of strong commitment to his/her speciality of choice.
Examples of some 5-day taster specialities include:
- Palliative Care
- Public Health
- Anaesthetics/Critical Care Medicine
- Medical Microbiology
- Radiology
- Psychiatry
- Genitourinary Medicine
- General practice
- Any other speciality
How to arrange your 5-day taster:
1. Tasters usually take place in the Accident and Emergency rotation during a reliever week.
2. Email the Foundation Training Programme Director to let him know which speciality you would like to do your taster in.
3. For GP placements whilst in Accident and Emergency, Mr Hedley will advise the Medical Education Manager regarding identifying a GP practice. For other tasters the Foundation Training Programme Director will provide the contact details of the lead clinical supervisor in that speciality and ask you to arrange a suitable time to meet him or her, in order to agree the following:
- a programme for the 5 day attachment
- learning objectives
- the dates of the 5-day attachment
- an outline of the project/presentation/paper that you will be required to complete as part of your reflective learning
- please send details of both to Foundation Training Programme Director before starting the attachment and copy to the Medical Education Manager
4. If the speciality that you choose is not on the list, then please supply the name and address of the clinical supervisor that you would like to work with. Foundation Training Programme Director will write on your behalf to arrange the taster. Alternatively, you could arrange it yourself and supply the Foundation Training Programme Director with the details.
Timing is key - You should aim to do your taster before your application to specialist training. There are, however, several rules to keep in mind when trying to arrange the timing of the taster:
- reliever weeks during A&E placements are good opportunities to arrange a 5-day taster - see Mr Hedley
- the 5-day taster is considered as FY2 study leave, so you are required to submit a study leave form to the Director of Medical Education in the Education centre
- additionally, you are required to inform your clinical supervisor and rota coordinator 6 weeks in advance of the date you propose to do your 5-day taster placement
