Skip to content
First ShiftIreland

Programme library

Everything between your offer letter and your first rota.

Five units, 32 full lessons. Units 3 and 4 are the heart of the programme.

Every lesson by unit, for reference. To follow them in order with practice along the way, use your journey. Sign in to track completion; it is saved to your account.

Unit 1

Getting to know Ireland

The practical side of arriving: weather and commuting, how workplace conversation tends to work, the core admin, and a first-week checklist.

0 of 4 complete

Open unit
  1. 1

    Welcome to IrelandPaid programme

    A compact orientation to the island, its weather and daylight, and how to plan a commute that holds up at 7am and at midnight.

  2. 2

    Everyday culture, rapport and workplace languagePaid programme

    How conversation tends to work in Irish workplaces, softened requests, humour, first names, and how to read it without relying on stereotypes.

  3. 3

    Moving practicalities: registration, permission to work, PPSN and payPaid programme

    The admin that decides whether you can start and be paid correctly, in a sensible order, with the official source for each step. General information checked October 2026, not individual legal or immigration advice.

  4. 4

    Your first-week practical checklistPaid programme

    An incredibly useful checklist that brings Unit 1 together, so your first week at work isn't spent firefighting admin.

Unit 2

Understanding Irish healthcare

How the health service is organised, where NCHDs fit, who's in the multidisciplinary team, and the professional standards you'll work within.

0 of 6 complete

Open unit
  1. 1

    How Irish healthcare is organised, and what matters on the wardPaid programme

    The HSE's six health regions, how HSE, voluntary and private hospitals differ, and the parts of the structure an SHO actually meets: who employs you, public and private patients, and where patients go after discharge.

  2. 2

    Who's who: the medical hierarchy and NCHD posts

    Consultants, registrars, SHOs and interns: what each role usually covers, how training and non-training posts differ, and where you fit.

  3. 3

    The multidisciplinary team: who does what, and how to ask wellPaid programme

    Who's on the ward beyond doctors, how to ask each of them properly, and how scope works both ways.

  4. 4

    When English isn't enough: interpreters and informed conversationsPaid programme

    Recognising when a patient needs language or communication support, finding your hospital's approved interpreting service, speaking through an interpreter well, why family interpreting can distort a conversation, and what to record afterwards.

  5. 5

    How people actually communicate on an Irish wardPaid programme

    The small communication habits that keep jobs moving, prevent misunderstandings and make it easier to ask for help.

  6. 6

    Professional duties: confidentiality, consent, records and raising concernsPaid programme

    The Medical Council's 2024 guide in four ward-level situations: a phone enquiry, a request to share images, a consent question and a concern you need to raise. The guide and your hospital's policies remain the authority.

Unit 3Flagship

Your first days in hospital

From the week before you start to your first end-of-day handover: induction, the ward, rounds and jobs, documentation, referrals, discharge and closing out.

0 of 10 complete

Open unitPlay: Your first day on the ward
  1. 1

    Preparing before day onePaid programme

    What to confirm, what to bring and what to read before your first day, so induction is about learning rather than chasing paperwork.

  2. 2

    Induction: systems, access and emergency processesPaid programme

    What to make sure you leave induction with, including the site-specific emergency numbers that this course deliberately does not list.

  3. 3

    Medication charts, prescribing systems and pharmacy: your local orientationPaid programme

    Which chart your site uses, what you are allowed to do on it, and who does what between prescriber, pharmacist, nurse and supervising doctor.

  4. 4

    Arriving, meeting staff and finding your wayPaid programme

    A practical first hour on a new ward: who is in charge and who is covering, the right list, working logins and bleep, the emergency process and equipment, and how the day runs.

  5. 5

    The ward round: turn a fast conversation into a safe planPaid programme

    How to capture decisions, clarify uncertainty and make the jobs list useful after the consultant leaves.

  6. 6

    Progress notes a colleague can act on at 3amPaid programme

    What separates a note that records attendance from one that carries a plan: a fictional before-and-after, conversation notes, corrections and the paper/electronic split.

  7. 7

    Phone referrals: a poor call, a prepared call and what to pin downPaid programme

    A fictional referral heard twice, the six things to have ready before you dial, and how to record an outcome that is advice, a review or a decline.

  8. 8

    Pending results: who checks, who acts, who follows up?Paid programme

    Why ordering a test is not the same as reviewing it, the states a result passes through, and how to hand over, escalate and discharge with a named person responsible for each outstanding result.

  9. 9

    Discharge: coordinating the plan, writing for the GP and saying 'not yet'Paid programme

    What the SHO actually coordinates before a discharge, what a GP needs from the summary, and how to talk to families when the date depends on something that hasn't happened.

  10. 10

    Finishing the shift without dropping the threadPaid programme

    Make outstanding jobs, changed plans and genuine concerns unmistakable to the doctor taking over.

Unit 4Flagship

Your first on-call shift

Preparing for on-call, handling requests, working with nursing colleagues, escalating clearly, coping with overload and handing over safely.

0 of 6 complete

Open unitPlay: Your first on-call shift
  1. 1

    Before the shift: the bleep and taking handoverPaid programme

    What to find out before your first on-call, the questions that make handover useful, and the boundaries to agree with your registrar before the first bleep.

  2. 2

    When the bleep won't stop: take requests without losing controlPaid programme

    Turn fragmented calls into a safe, revisable task list, while recognising when a concern needs immediate help.

  3. 3

    Working with night nurses: the call, the context and the plan you sharePaid programme

    Overnight, the nurse and the on-call doctor see different parts of the same patient. How to clarify a call without sounding dismissive, give your own context, and leave a plan you both understand.

  4. 4

    Escalating: the first sentence, the ask and what to do if it doesn't landPaid programme

    Two separate routes, emergency response and senior escalation; a call structure that states your concern and request up front; and what to say when the answer doesn't match your worry.

  5. 5

    When the list outgrows you: telling your senior early and specificallyPaid programme

    Overload is a workload problem that needs a senior decision. What to tell the registrar, what they can do with it, how delegation should be confirmed, and how to tell wards they will wait.

  6. 6

    Finishing a night: what can't wait, getting home and the day afterPaid programme

    The jobs you must not leave as list items, the journey home after a night, and what to do in the days after a shift that went badly. Handover technique itself is covered in the first-days handover lesson.

Unit 5

Building your medical career

Training and non-training posts, routes into specialist training, an Irish-style CV, audit, quality improvement (QI) and research, and a realistic 90-day plan.

0 of 6 complete

Open unit
  1. 1

    Reading a job offer: training and non-training posts, contracts and what to askPaid programme

    How to compare a training post with a non-training (service) post, and how to read a real offer: grade, sites, rota and on-call, supervision, education and the contract itself. Eligibility for training schemes is covered separately.

  2. 2

    Specialist training in Ireland: eligibility, selection and a realistic planPaid programme

    A practical distinction between working in an SHO post and getting onto a recognised training programme, with the questions to verify before you apply.

  3. 3

    An Irish-style medical CV: structure, specific entries and honest evidencePaid programme

    A common structure, two fictional before-and-after experience entries with notes on what changed, and how to tailor a CV to a post or a training application. Conventions vary; the application's own instructions come first.

  4. 4

    Building a portfolio: audit, QI, teaching and research, and the permissions each needsPaid programme

    What separates audit, quality improvement, teaching and research, which governance or ethics route applies, what counts as evidence, and why ambitious projects that never finish are worth less than small ones that do.

  5. 5

    Planning a first audit or QI project and closing the loopPaid programme

    A step-by-step approach to a small, finishable project, from question to re-audit or re-measurement.

  6. 6

    Your first 90 days: a development planPaid programme

    A one-page, three-stage plan for your first three months, with a fully filled fictional example, specific feedback requests and honest limits on what any plan can promise.

Subjective orientation from doctors’ experience and public sources, not clinical, legal or registration advice. Sources checked 29 October 2026. Not endorsed by the HSE or Medical Council.