Maximum marks: 3
| Year |
Marks |
| Completed 2024–2027 |
3 |
| Completed in 2023 |
2 |
| Completed in 2022 or earlier |
1 |
Notes
For the purposes of BST application scoring, structured postgraduate clinical training means a structured, supervised and nationally recognised period of clinical practice completed after award of the primary medical qualification and before entry to specialist training. This may include internship, foundation training, house officer/house job training, compulsory rotating medical internship, PGY1 training, or an equivalent national regulator-recognised training period.
Applicants must provide official evidence of completion, or formal confirmation that the training period will be completed before the BST programme start date. Evidence may include a certificate of completion, regulator registration document, provisional/full registration record, or official confirmation from the relevant medical council, university, hospital or training authority.
Where an applicant’s jurisdiction does not use the term “internship”, RCPI will consider equivalent structured postgraduate clinical training where it is supervised, clinically based, undertaken after primary medical qualification AND recognised by the relevant national regulator or competent authority.
For the purposes of calculating recency of structured foundational postgraduate clinical training, applicants may request that up to one year be disregarded where there has been an approved or documented interruption for maternity leave, parental/adoptive leave, long-term illness, caring responsibilities, or other exceptional circumstances. Appropriate supporting documentation must be provided.
The maximum adjustment available is one year between category 1 and category 3.
Maximum marks: 5
| Experience |
Marks |
| ≥12 months experience in Ireland - internship or service |
5 |
| <12 months experience in Ireland - internship or service |
0 |
Notes
For the purposes of BST application scoring, Irish Health System Experience means at least 12 months of eligible clinical employment or training within the Irish healthcare system prior to the BST programme commencement.
Where experience has not yet been completed at the application closing date, applicants must provide official confirmation from their employer or training provider demonstrating expected completion before the BST programme start date.
Eligible experience may include:
- Internship completed in Ireland.
- Non-training scheme clinical service posts in Ireland.
- Clinical employment with the HSE, an HSE-funded organisation, or another approved Irish healthcare provider.
- Structured postgraduate clinical training undertaken in Ireland.
Applicants who meet the requirements above will be awarded 5 marks. The maximum score is 5 marks, irrespective of the duration of eligible experience beyond 12 months.
Evidence may include:
- An internship completion certificate.
- For a current Irish intern, official confirmation of enrolment in the internship programme and the expected completion date.
- Employment contracts and employer confirmation letters.
- HSE, DIME or hospital-issued service records.
- Official postgraduate training records.
Evidence must demonstrate that the applicant had completed at least 12 months of eligible experience by the application closing date, unless the current Irish internship exception applies.
Time spent in non-clinical roles will not be considered. Observerships, electives, research posts without clinical duties, voluntary experience, undergraduate clinical placements and shadowing activities will not be awarded marks under this category.
Maximum marks: 2
| Evidence |
Marks |
| First-author peer-reviewed publication |
2 |
| Co-author peer-reviewed publication |
1 |
| Oral presentation at a national/international meeting |
1 |
| No qualifying publication |
0 |
Notes
Evidence required for publications
To claim marks for a publication, applicants must provide:
- Full publication title.
- Full author list.
- Journal name.
- Date of publication.
- DOI, PubMed ID, PMCID, SciMago or a stable journal webpage link.
- Evidence that the publication was published by the application closing date.
Publications that are submitted, under review, accepted but not yet published, in preparation, or not verifiable through a DOI, PubMed ID, PMCID or stable journal link will not be awarded marks.
Evidence required for oral presentations
To claim marks for an oral presentation, applicants must provide clear evidence that they personally delivered the oral presentation. Acceptable evidence may include:
- The official conference programme or abstract book showing:
- the presentation title;
- the applicant’s name;
- the applicant as presenting author;
- the name and date of the meeting.
A certificate from the conference organiser explicitly confirming that the applicant delivered an oral presentation.
A stable conference webpage or published proceedings confirming the oral presentation.
Where evidence does not clearly show that the applicant was the presenting author, no marks will be awarded.
Exclusions
The following will not be awarded marks under this category:
- Published abstracts alone.
- Letters to the editor.
- Posters.
- Regional, local, hospital-level or departmental presentations.
- Audit presentations.
- Quality improvement presentations.
- Conference attendance certificates.
- Teaching presentations.
- Case discussions, grand rounds or morbidity and mortality presentations.
- Blogs, newsletters, websites or non-peer-reviewed material.
Definition of recognised national or international scientific meeting
A recognised national or international scientific meeting is one organised by a recognised professional, academic, scientific or medical body and open to delegates beyond a single hospital, department, local training site or region.
Local hospital meetings, regional teaching days, internal departmental events and student society meetings will not be considered national or international scientific meetings for this purpose.