HST

On successful completion of HST, you will receive a CSCST (Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training). You will then be eligible to register with the Medical Council of Ireland as a specialist.

Entry to HST is competitive. Completion of Basic Specialist Training, or an equivalent programme, is an essential entry requirement for HST.

Endocrinology deals with diseases affecting the endocrine glands. This includes thyroid disease, adrenal disease, reproductive endocrinology, growth disorders, calcium disorders, pituitary disease, water metabolism and pituitary disease in traumatic brain injury.

Endocrinologists need excellent communication and leadership skills. They must coordinate and maintain multidisciplinary networks for managing endocrine diseases and diabetes mellitus; for example, arranging monthly multidisciplinary meetings with surgery, radiotherapy, pathology and radiology for thyroid cancer. The very nature of endocrine diseases (for example, their impact on other organs and systems in the body) means that an endocrinologist must also be a skillful general physician.

Most endocrinologists look after medical inpatients and participate in the acute medical take, offering expertise in areas such as hypoglycaemia, glycaemic control in patients in intensive care and coronary care units, managing diabetic ketoacidosis, and adrenal or pituitary crises. Thanks to advances in the specialty, endocrinology is based mainly in the outpatient department and sees patients from adolescence to old age. There is an increasing trend to develop specialised, multidisciplinary clinics - for example, obstetric medical, or diabetic foot.

New therapeutic avenues are opening up as molecular biology unlocks many of the mysteries of endocrine disease. Doctors who complete Higher Specialist Training in Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus may later wish to subspecialise in endocrinology or diabetes mellitus. Training in endocrinology and diabetes mellitus is completed in two stages:

• Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine (or an equivalent programme) – Two years

• Higher Specialist Training in Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus – Five years

Our Higher Specialist Training programme in Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus offers Dual Training, which is additional training in General Internal Medicine.

On successful completion of HST, you will receive a CSCST (Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training). You will then be eligible to register with the Medical Council of Ireland as a specialist.

Entry to HST is competitive. Completion of Basic Specialist Training, or an equivalent programme, is an essential entry requirement for HST.

Pharmaceutical Medicine is the medical specialty that encompasses the discovery, development, evaluation and licensing of medicines together with their appropriate marketing and ongoing monitoring of their safety in clinical practice (lifecycle management of medicines).

Medical practitioners who work as pharmaceutical physicians undertake these activities in many different areas within the healthcare system and allied services including clinical trial units, academic departments, contract research organisations, national agencies, such as the Heath Products Regulatory Authority (formally the Irish Medicines Board), NSAI or National Medicines Information Centre in Ireland as well as the pharmaceutical industry.

Although the majority of pharmaceutical physicians (with the possible exception of those undertaking clinical trials) have no direct contact with patients, they are required to be fully registered with the Medical Council of Ireland in order to fulfil their duties.

Pharmaceutical physicians are involved in activities on a daily basis (for example, evaluating ongoing safety with medicines in practice and promoting evidence-based prescribing) to reduce medication errors, maximise patient benefit and minimise harm with use of medicines.

Pharmaceutical physicians interact with other healthcare professionals on a regular basis - on medical information enquiries, in clinical trial activities, in preparing educational materials, including journal articles, textbooks, reference books, formularies, pharmacoeconomic assessments and e-learning materials – all of which encourage rational use of medicines in the interest of patient safety.

Pharmaceutical physicians from either the pharmaceutical industry or national agencies may also be called upon by the media to give guidance on drug-related events of public interest.

This training programme will provide the knowledge and competence for a doctor to be trained in all aspects of drug development, the regulation and safe use of medicines, and with good communication skills who will be able to assist healthcare professionals, as well as pharmacoeconomic and regulatory competent authorities in the rational use of medicines, in the interest of public health.

Applicants for Higher Specialist Training (HST) in Pharmaceutical Medicine must have a certificate of completion Basic Specialist Training (BST) in General Internal Medicine and obtained the MRCPI. Other entrants with appropriate higher examinations (including MICGP, MRCSI) may be considered. All applicants must be employed in a position that is within a national regulatory agency such as the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) or a Pharmaceutical Company e.g. Pfizer. The applicant’s employment location must be listed as an approved training site for Pharmaceutical Medicine. Applicants to the training programme must be supported by their employer organisation and will be required to supply evidence of this at application stage. 

Training in pharmaceutical medicine is completed in two stages:

• Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine (or an equivalent programme) - Two years

• Higher Specialist Training in Pharmaceutical Medicine - Four years

On successful completion of HST, you will receive a CSCST (Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training). You will then be eligible to register with the Medical Council of Ireland as a specialist.

Entry to HST is competitive. Completion of Basic Specialist Training, or an equivalent programme, is an essential entry requirement for HST.

Rheumatology is a sub-specialty of internal medicine involving the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. It incorporates the study of joints, soft tissues and related structures called connective tissues. Many rheumatic disorders are defined as ‘auto-immune’ conditions because the triggers for disease onset and maintenance are related to immune aberrations that identify ‘self’ proteins as foreign. Equally, newer and more sophisticated treatments use specific components of the immune system to mitigate the disease process.

A trainee in rheumatology must therefore have an in-depth knowledge of internal medicine, excellent general diagnostic skills, an aptitude for clinical analysis and an ability to work in a team environment with clinicians and health professionals from different specialties. Proficiency in joint and soft tissue aspiration and injection is also essential.

The duration of HST in Rheumatology is five years, one year of which may be gained from a period of full-time research. Those who wish to obtain dual certification in rheumatology and, for example, in general internal medicine will require at least a fifth year of training.

Training in rheumatology is completed in two stages:

• Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine (or an equivalent programme) - Two years

• Higher Specialist Training in Rheumatology - Five years

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