Eligibility requirements for FRCS Cardiothoracic Surgery

Following are eligibility requirements for appearing for FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery:

Now it is not compulsory to crack MRCS for JSCFE FRCS (International). You can appear in FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery even if you don't have cleared MRCS. 

There are two versions of FRCS, one for domestic and other for International candidates.

• JCIE  FRCS (Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations) (domestic - UK & Ireland) 
• JSCFE FRCS (Joint Surgical Colleges’ Fellowship Examinations) (international)

Being an Indian medical graduate currently working as a  Cardiothoracic Surgeon, you will have to appear for JSCFE FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery. 

To appear for this exam you need to have a minimum of 6 years of experience to be just eligible to write the exam. 3 Year of your General Surgery experience + 3 years of  Cardiothoracic Surgery residency experience. 

For this you need to provide evidence in form of following:

What you'll need at the time of application for FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery?

• Medical Qualification – year/country obtained (Candidate should have completed a locally recognized  Cardiothoracic Surgery residency program)
• MRCS – month/year obtained [if applicable, not mandatory]
• Your three signed Structured References (pdf format)
• Curriculum Vitae (pdf format)
• Summary of Operative Experience -Logbook in prescribed format (pdf format)
• Photocopy of your passport (identification page)

Structured References required for eligibility of your training for FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery

• The principal referee must be the applicant’s current of Head of Department or Head of the Recognised Training Committee/Programme in which the applicant has participated 

• The  second  referee must  be a  senior  clinician who  has worked  with  the applicant and  has knowledge of the applicant’s work in his/her specialty within the last two years 

• The  third  referee  must  be  a  senior  clinician  who  has  worked  with  the  applicant  and  has knowledge of the applicant’s work in his/her specialty within the last two years

What is the Exam Format for FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery?

Section 1 examinations from 1 January 2021 the format will be as follows: 

• Paper 1 120 Single Best Answer [SBA] (2 hours 15 mins) 
• Paper 2 120 Single Best Answer [SBA] (2 hours 15 mins) 

Once you pass the Section 1 exam, you will receive a ‘Eligibility to Proceed’ certificate by email, after which you will be allowed to appear for the Section 2 exam.

Section 2 examinations: Clinical component consisting of a series of carefully designed and structured interviews on clinical topics, some being scenario based (structured orals) and some being patient based.

Allowed Number of Examination Attempts for FRCS  Cardiothoracic Surgery

Candidates are given up to a maximum of 7 years to complete the examination process as follows: 

• Section 1(MCQ):  Candidates will have a maximum of 4 attempts with no re‐entry  
• Section 2 (OSCE):  Candidates will have a maximum of 4 attempts with no re‐entry 

Frequently Asked Questions related to FRCS Cardiothoracic Surgery

Hi.

I'm a resident in the cardiothoracic surgery and I'm on the thoracic surgery program.. I was planning to apply for the MRCS part 1, and I wonder if the part 2 MRCS will be as board exam for the thoracic surgery or I should finish the MRCS then do fellow in thoracic ? 

I wish you can help me.

I searched in your recent post about fellowship but I didn't find thoracic or cardiothoracic fellowship in the website.

Waiting for your response.

Best regards

You have 2 options. 1) get MRCS , get GMC registration and then apply for a cardiothoracic surgery job in the UK. 2) If you want to practice in your own country -> give FRCS cardiothoracic.

MRCS is just general surgery. Part 1 is MCQ based. Part 2 is Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

References:

https://www.jscfe.co.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=1

https://www.jscfe.co.uk/Content/content.aspx?ID=44

https://www.jscfe.co.uk/Content/content.aspx?ID=22

Read other related Posts regarding FRCS Preparation

Eligibility requirements for FRCS Cardiothoracic Surgery

Eligibility requirements for FRCS General Surgery

Eligibility requirements for FRCS Neurosurgery

Eligibility requirements for FRCS Otolaryngology

Eligibility requirements for FRCS Trauma and Orthopaedics

Eligibility requirements for FRCS Urology

Books for FRCS Cardiothoracic Surgery Preparation

Books for FRCS General Surgery  Preparation

Books for FRCS Neurosurgery  Preparation

Books for FRCS Otolaryngology  Preparation

Books for FRCS Trauma and Orthopaedics  Preparation

Books for FRCS Urology  Preparation