DrIng said:
Just wondering if anyone can tell me what life is like as a junior doctor, PGY2 upwards in Ireland. I'm interested in things like hours of work, pay, stress etc. I've got an interview for a SHO/Reigstrar job in psychiatry and would like to be well prepared. Thanks for any help/insight.
As a Psych reg in Ireland it's pretty cushy TBH. Hours are 9-5 "offically" although there is copious time off in that. E.g., you will have a half day every week for lecture, and several other times.
Depends on where you are going however. Some of the community jobs are real nice, doing OPD around the countryside is quite pleasant, other's are inpatient based.
Stress is non-existent, unless you happen to be so strung out on crack that a door slamming stresses you. Pay sucks compared to the jobs with overtime like surgery. Overtime is attributed as you go, but as it's pretty well known that psych is 9-5 you wouldn't get away with filling in "8-7" days. Typically salary is around 4-4500 before tax, coming in at say 3-3500 after tax at SHO-1 level ("PGY2" - PGY1 would be intern). Depends on on-call as well. SOme jobs have maybe 4-5/month, others have maybe 1-2 calls/month. Basic SHO salary is around 35k/year, with on-call goes to around 50-60k. Again, a basic downer is salary, but that is because if you do psych after intern you are no longer doing 80-100 hour weeks and getting 5 grand into your hand every month after tax to blow on strippers and booze.
EDIT: you are paid by the hour, daytime and on-call. A sunday or bank holiday is double time.
For lifestyle it is by far the best choice, training is very good, consultants are by and large very friendly. There are no restrictions on prescribing so a "HMO" isn't going to say you have to do this or that, basically you decide based on clinical practice (the way it's meant to be?!?). You can earn as much as you want effectively if you take locum work around.
Holidays are like, 16 working days per 6 months, so basically 3 weeks eve 6 months for vacation. If you are doing an exam you can get another 2 weeks on top of that, and if you go on a course or conference you can get another 6 days of leave. You also get a 1900 euro/6 months for books, courses, etc., .
Where are you coming from BTW?
