Australian Medical Association

The AMA believes that Health Workforce Australia (HWA) can play a significant role in providing funding support to increase available resources for teaching and training prevocational doctors and vocational trainees.  The attached AMA paper Supporting prevocational and vocational training through Health Workforce Australia puts forward specific proposals regarding how this can be achieved.

In this issue: AMA Welcomes Big Investment in Medical Training; AMA President and AMACDT Chair Meet with Minister Roxon; AMACDT - Trainee Forum Strengthens Trainee Voice; Medical Training Review Panel; 'Leading Change' - AMA Leadership Development Day; AMA Surveying Specialist Trainees; Long-awaited report highlights quality training key to preparing students for internship and beyond; Seeking your views on competency-based training; AMACDT on Facebook and Twitter; MJA Job Share.

In this issue: Develop your leadership skills: AMA Leadership Development Day – Leading Change; AMA Trainee Forum; Extra support for medical education & training urgently required: AMA budget submission; AMA urges greater support for IMGs and abolition of 10-year moratorium; Australian Curriculum Framework revised; New AMA doctors-in-training membership pack; ACRRM accreditation; AMACDT on Facebook and Twitter; and MJA Job Share.

In this issue - AMA training, education and supervision survey: another poor report card for public hospitals; AMA welcomes clinical teaching funding but broader funding and resources needed to be truly effective; New AMA doctors-in-training membership pack; AMACDT meets in Canberra; AMACDT writes to CPMEC on national prevocational training and the internship; "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" – a health and wellbeing guide for doctors; The health and wellbeing of junior doctors: insights from a national survey; Coasting to Gold – 14th National Prevocational Medical Education Forum; MedEd 2009 – “Investing in our Medical Workforce”; ACCC allows admission and interview policies of graduate-entry medical schools;AMA online fatigue risk assessment tool; AMACDT on Facebook; Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year; MJA Job Share.

The Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils (CPMEC) has prepared a discussion paper on the structure and content of the internship - the year of supervised clinical training completed by graduates of an Australian Medical Council-accredited medical school.

The AMA Council of Doctors-in-Training has written to CPMEC and given broad support to the discussion paper’s recommendations as they align with the AMA’s position on the duration of the intern year, its core terms and the role of placements in community settings.

The AMA welcomes today’s announcement that funding to support clinical training, which was agreed at the November 2008 COAG meeting, will now start to flow.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said this initial round of funding is urgently needed and is a good start to addressing the training needs of Australia’s future medical workforce.

Medical student numbers are growing rapidly.  In 2007, there were 1,544 domestic medical graduates, an increase of 22 per cent from 2003.  This is projected to increase to 2,920 graduates by 2012.

Dr Pesce said Australia currently doesn't have the teaching resources in place to cope with the increase in student numbers.

National Minimum Terms and Conditions for GP Registrars for 2010

An AMA national survey of junior doctors has exposed insufficient medical training resources and infrastructure in our public hospitals.

The AMA Junior Doctor Training, Education and Supervision Survey has collated the views of more than 900 junior doctors from across Australia on the quality of their medical training and the support they are receiving to become independent practitioners.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that medical training in public hospitals is being held together by dedicated senior doctors who are giving their time and skills to junior doctors without the support of State Governments.

“This is another poor report card on the performance of our public hospitals,” Dr Pesce said.

Findings of the AMA Junior Doctor Training, Education and Supervision Survey

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said an extra 1400 medical intern places would be needed by 2013 to help ensure the looming surge of medical school graduates can become fully-trained doctors.

Dr Pesce said there would be around 3500 medical school graduates in 2012, compared to 2200 graduates at the end of 2008.

“Since 2004, the Federal Government has dramatically increased medical school places to help address workforce shortages,” Dr Pesce said.

“While there is no doubt Australia has a shortage of doctors and it was a good idea to fund extra medical school places, medical training does not stop when students graduate from university. There are currently only 2030 intern places for medical graduates available across the country and, beyond the intern year, a looming shortage of training positions right through to specialist training.