The same structure to junior doctor grades also applied previously in the National Health Service in the UK, and informal use of the term persists there.
Before MMC, physicians applied for SHO posts after completing their mandatory pre-registration house officer (PRHO) year after qualifying from medical school.
[3] In August 2002, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the then Chief Medical Officer, published a report titled "Unfinished Business", which focused on reforming SHO training.
[citation needed] Some hospitals use the term senior house officer in an unofficial capacity for physicians in FY2 and CT1/2 year, who often have similar working patterns in duty shift rotas.
In the United States, physicians in training are also sometimes referred to as "senior house officers" in their later years of residency, but the term is more variable in its American than its European usage.