“I was very fortunate to train at one of the best centres for diabetes and endocrinology care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Western General Hospital. I am using the knowledge I gained in the UK on a daily basis and have built on it for the benefit of my patients. I am very grateful to my colleagues and seniors for empowering me with the knowledge and skills I gained during my stay in the UK”.
The following article is from Dr Mazhar Dalvi who recently participated in our Medical Training Initiative and has since returned home to implement what he learned.
What motivated you to train in the UK?
The United Kingdom has always been recognised as offering one of the best courses and training platforms for young physicians in terms of protocol and guidance-driven medicine. Having completed MRCP (UK) and passed the Speciality Certificate Exam in Endocrinology and Diabetes I was looking to do justice to my interest in this speciality by gaining training experience.
I had always dreamt about training in the UK as a junior doctor and was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to do so.
How was the experience?
I found the experience absolutely enthralling and it added a new dimension to my medical repertoire.
The training was not restricted to core competencies of endocrinology and diabetes but also included diabetes emergencies, obstetric diabetes care, inpatient diabetes care, diabetes renal disease, diabetic foot disease, paediatric and adolescent diabetes, insulin pump therapy and managing rare types of diabetes such as MODY and cystic fibrosis.
In endocrinology I had significant exposure to patients with thyroid, pituitary and adrenal disease including management of patients post-pituitary surgery including clinics in paediatric and reproductive endocrinology and metabolic bone diseases especially osteoporosis. I also became proficient in fine-needle aspiration cytology of thyroid by doing several thyroid nodule and thyroid cancer clinics.
The training involved regular supervision and an appraisal process; the feedback from the supervising consultants was very encouraging.
During my tenure I was encouraged to attend various training courses across the UK: an insulin pump course, the DAFNE doctor programme, the Thyroid FNAC course and the National Training scheme for use of radioiodine in benign thyroid disease.
With excellent guidance and support from my consultants and registrars I was also involved in regular audits, I gave poster presentations at conferences and had a study and a case report published in international peer-reviewed journals.
How you have used the experience and training now you’ve returned home?
I was very fortunate to train at one of the best centres for diabetes and endocrinology care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Western General Hospital. I am using the knowledge I gained in the UK on a daily basis and have built on it for the benefit of my patients. I would strongly encourage anyone considering training and or working in the UK as I feel I have grown, not only as a physician, but also as a person from this experience. I am currently working with one of the busiest endocrine and diabetes centres in my country and putting into practise each and every skill learnt and the knowledge gained.
I am very grateful to my colleagues and seniors for empowering me with the knowledge and skills I gained during my stay in the UK. Special thanks go to Dr Alan Patrick and Professor Mark Strachan who guided me through this career-changing journey with immense support and assistance throughout. Last but not the least, a big thank you to Jeanette Stevenson and Shona McGlynn in the College’s MTI Team as my journey during the process was very smooth from start to end thanks to their continuous efforts.