Residency Training Program in Nigeria: Duration & Enrollment (2024)
Enrolling for residency training in Nigeria by resident doctors is necessary and a compulsory training program for any licensed doctor that intends to work independently without supervision. With this training of resident doctors, medical graduates will advance their knowledge in the medical field.
Residency training are mostly carried out in certified hospitals. This is because, the trainee who is resident at the hospital staff quarters can be called upon to attend to emergencies or any health issue in the absence of the consultant doctor. The duration of residency training in Nigeria is about four years or more.
As earlier said, the Residency training program affords graduates of medical colleges in Nigeria the opportunity to advance their knowledge in a medical or surgical specialty. It had its history at the John Hopkins Hospital, America before other countries of the world adopted residency. Below are reasons why you need residency training in Nigeria.
Why do you need residency training as a medical graduate?
The importance of residency cannot be underestimated as it gives the individual the opportunity to work in real situations as opposed to the theoretical aspect. You stand a chance to work with real patients as you would be paired as a team. This will help to broaden and sharpen your thinking skills thereby improving the understanding of the various ailments.
Another major reason behind the importance of residency training as a medical graduate is that it exposes one to the perplexities of leadership traits and the homogeneous aspect of practice, allowing you an opportunity to choose a successful career path available to physicians.
Please note that residency training program differs from NYSC, since the training is restricted to those in the medical field.
What You Need Know in Choosing a Residency Program
When choosing your residency program, it can be a daunting task for today’s physicians. Below are some questions you should consider when you want to select a residency program:
- How stable and flexible is the program?
- What is the duration of the training?
- Does it align with my personal career goals?
- The cost of the residency program.
- Patient population and family issues that may arise
- Support.
Enrolling into a residency training program in Nigeria
If you have decided on the residency program to do with the following criteria listed above, the next step is to enroll or apply by doing the following:
- You would have to seek advise from the residency director at your institution to find out the pros and cons of your chosen career path including the benefits.
- Prepare your letters of recommendation, personal statement and other relevant documents.
- Be on the look out for adverts from teaching hospitals that are offering the specialty of your choice. See the list of all teaching hospitals in Nigeria, here.
- Visit the website for the university’s residency training to apply.
How Much is The Cost of Residency Training
With the current trend, it would be a bit tedious to come out with the actual cost of Residency training in Nigeria, but we know that it depends on the institution and area of specialty. What we know is that the application process will cost you from N10,000 to N15,000 which is non-refundable.
