Pre-registration house officer

Pre-registration house officer (PRHO) was the title given to medical graduates in the UK until 2005, who had passed their final year exams at medical school and had received their medical degrees but were not fully registered with the General Medical Council. This was usually the first year after graduation. PRHO was the lowest grade in the medical hierarchy in the National Health Service. Traditionally, PRHOs worked for six months in general medicine and six months in general surgery, after which the PRHO would have been granted registration by the General Medical Council. Although the PRHO year was taken after graduating from university, the supervision of the PRHO was the responsibility of the medical school from which the PRHO graduated, and a representative of that medical school was responsible for signing the registration forms which go to the General Medical Council to certify that the PRHO year had been completed successfully. After completing the PRHO year, trainees became Senior house officers.

Following changes in postgraduate medical education, from 2005, what was the PRHO year now forms the first year of Foundation Training (Foundation Year 1), and trainees during this year now have the job title of Foundation House Officer 1 instead of PRHO.

In other parts of the world, this stage is generally referred to as medical internship.