Medical CV for doctors: structure and registration

Where BMDC registration goes, how to present rotations and procedures, and why a doctor's CV follows different rules to everyone else's.

A medical CV follows conventions that would be wrong on any other CV. It is longer, more detailed, and organised around credentials rather than achievements. Do not let general CV advice talk you out of that.

Length is not a virtue here

The one-page rule does not apply. A doctor's CV runs to several pages and is expected to. What matters is that every page is scannable — a reviewer is looking for specific credentials, not reading it through.

Registration first, always

BMDC registration number in the header, with the year and validity. For overseas applications, the destination registration — GMC, DHA, SCFHS, PLAB status — goes alongside it or replaces it in prominence.

An application without a visible registration status is treated as incomplete.

Qualifications in reverse order, with the institution

MBBS, then postgraduate. FCPS, MD, MS, MRCP, membership and fellowship — write the full designation, the college or university, and the year. Abbreviations that are obvious at home are not obvious to a reviewer abroad.

If you are mid-training, say which part you have passed.

Rotations and clinical experience

House officer and residency rotations belong in their own section with department, hospital and duration. This is standard and its absence is noticed.

For each substantive post, give:

Department and hospital, with bed count if it is a large unit
Patient load — outpatients per clinic, inpatients under your care
Level of supervision you worked under and provided
On-call commitment

Procedures, with numbers

Where a specialty involves procedures, a log is expected. Name the procedure, the approximate number performed, and whether independently or supervised. Precision matters more than volume — an inflated figure is a straightforward thing to catch in an interview.

Publications, presentations and audit

Full citation format for papers, with journal and year. Conference presentations with the meeting and location. Clinical audits with the topic and what changed as a result — audit is the section most doctors leave out and the one that distinguishes candidates for training posts.

Teaching and supervision

Junior doctors taught, teaching sessions delivered, students supervised. For academic and training posts this is scored explicitly.

Layout

The Clinic template is a calm single column with room for registration numbers, competencies, rotations and publications. It is single-column throughout, which matters because hospital HR systems are often older and less forgiving than corporate ones.

Verify the export with the ATS checker.