EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues VRCT registration eligibility

Hey guys.

Cause I have recently graduated as a medical electronics engineer (IPEM accredited MSc) and I am looking for a job, I am still quite confused about the eligibility of signing up with the VRCT. I have seen on the VRCT website that certain courses are required so that you can register. Is it not enough to have an IPEM accredited degree/masters to join?
Thanks in advance.

I'm afraid you may have missed the boat on that Fotios. I believe the extended grandfathering scheme, which allowed such things, has finished. And now you are required to complete a pointless course to get on the pointless register.

Fotios
Even when the register was quite open you needed experience as well as qualifications to join. So having an accredited course is and was not enough.
Robert

Heard on the grapevine that VRCT maybe taken out of IPEM control and different set of criteria applied to enter?
No time frame mentioned, but before it becomes the State register, if ever?
One of the reasons mentioned was cause most EBME / MED managers disagree with the entry requirements set by IPEM and that most EBME / MED staff arent in IPEM anyway.

Sounds like a good idea, hope it's more than just a rumour.

Hi

Thought it might be helpful to clarify a few things.
First Robert was correct that there has always been a competency element to the training and it is not just knowledge based. If a degree or MSc has been completed that is IPEM approved then it is likely that a lot of the knowledge based elements will have been covered to some level. Of course not everything is taught on educational courses and there will be some knowledge base to be delivered in the workplace. The truth is that we continually update our knowlege and skill and so this approach should come as no surprise or present a problem to anyone

On the point of the VRCT register, the entry qualifications are not set or in the control of IPEM they are in the control of VRCT.

Something which the new member representative will soon be able to confirm

The aspiration of VRCT was, and remains that the register would become statutory and end up in the hands of HPC (now HCPC). Unfortunately because of a change of Government the registration landscape changed and Assured Registers came on the horizon. Nobody at this point seems to know how that will develop and what role, if any, the current VRCT structure might play. One thing is certain is that VRCT must work to ensure that the register can withstand scrutiny and that features like CPD audit are inplace.
In my view, the other thing that is certain is that if the register continues, who ever is in control or administers it etc, it will cost more (both to join and annually) and the criteria will be stricter.

Of course if the professions (VRCT and the other groups currently seeking registration) do not want to be registered then I suspect that will be viewed (at least by the NHS)as a comment that they do not consider themselves to be professional and I am sure the next action will be to try to pay them accordingly.

As I have always said if you do not act and work together as a professional group - why should anyone else treat you as a professional group.

So be careful what you hope for!
If it is for formal recognition then great but if it is just to get one over on the VRCT I hope you are near to retirement

Fotios,

Can I ask why you are not looking for work as a Clinical Scientist? MSc is over-qualified for VRCT.

OK Alan ... but you're saying "if the register continues"?

@Bill: there are lots of folk with MSc about these days, Mate.

Geoff,

I was shown a "missive" from the Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC (not MSc)) people who want all BME managers to be qualified to PhD level!!!

Professor Bill

Unfortunately, blokes like us never got the chance to peer too deeply into the thorny thickets (or should that be, still waters?) of academia, did we, Bill?

Back then, the (then) Powers That Be were in a hurry to "crank the handle" (of the sausage machine) and get us out to work as soon as possible. After all, back in those days there was still a great deal of real work that needed to be done.

These days, fertile young minds are encouraged to linger a little longer before venturing forth into the workplace. That way it makes the so-called "government"'s NEET figures look a little less discouraging.

Mr.Geoff MBA*

* Master in Biomed Administration