I am writing this post to answer the most commonly asked questions by doctors about working in Australia. This in no way is a complete or perfect guide, it is just my knowledge of the system. I am more than happy for people to inform me of any mistakes
AMC MCQ Part 1
The eligibility criteria to appear in AMC MCQ exam is a primary medical qualification i.e. MBBS, MD etc. Work experience is not a requirement. There are many different books you can study to pass the exam but there is no right or wrong answer to which book needs to be studied. You may read all the books in this world and still fail or you may read just one book and pass the exam. I believe currently candidates are preferring to study John Murtagh General Practice book. Along with this you must study the Handbook of Multiple Choice Questions with explanations and try to do the past papers. Some candidates still prefer to do Kaplan USMLE Step 2 lecture notes in place of John Murtagh. The advantage of John Murtagh over Kaplan notes is that John Murtagh can be studied for clinical exam also. Practice more and more MCQs. It is a computer based 3.5hr MCQ test having 120 marked questions. There are centers around the world for giving MCQ exam.
AMC Clinical exam:
Once you pass AMC MCQ exam, you can appear in AMC Clinical exam. It is a 16-station multidisciplinary structured clinical exam which assesses your skills in Medicine, Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry. The result is graded as clear pass, marginal performance, and clear fail. If you are graded as marginal performance, you will have to sit in re-test which is constituted of 8 stations rather than 16. You should study Handbook of Clinical Assessment and practice roleplays more and more. Candidates also study different notes like Karen notes, VMPF notes etc. I would also advise to remind yourself of John Murtagh general practice. You should ideally have a 3-4 people study group.
English language assessment:
English language assessment is not a requirement to sit in AMC exams but it is a mandatory requirement of AHPRA before you can be allowed to work in Australia. If you have studied in a specific recognized country, you may be exempted from the English language assessment otherwise you will need to achieve the required scores on any one of these i.e. IELTS academic, OET, PTE academic or TOEFL iBT. The minimum requirement to get a doctor job in Australia is passing AMC MCQ and English language assessment (unless you have successfully applied through specialist or competent authority pathway). Once you have satisfied these requirements, you need to apply mostly online to vacancies according to the eligibility criteria. You can also subscribe to be notified of any new. Sometimes, people ask if internship is mandatory to get a job in Australia. Theoretically speaking it is not a mandatory requirement, but it is next to impossible to get any job in Australia if you have not completed a minimum of 12 months internship. You wouldn’t get an internship job in Australia unless you are an Australian graduate. People with very little experience as a doctor overseas are finding it increasingly difficult to find the first medical job in Australia. My advice to them will be to get further experience or pursue other options.
What to do while searching for a Job?
This is a very common question. My opinion is while you are waiting to find a job make sure you keep applying on every suitable job you know off. Dont think just because you don’t have much experience in that field you have no chance. If you have not passed AMC clinical, prepare for it and pass it ASAP. Keep your IELTS/OET updated. Make sure you have certificates for all the time you have worked.Your registration from home country must be up to date. You need to make sure there is no uncovered time back home in your own country. If you are in Australia, try to find some sort of health care job. Some courses specially ALS, CPR etc will always look great on the CV in fact some places require you to have a valid ALS certificate before you start. If you are in Australia, you may think about having a valid Working with children check to help you later on specially it is now required in NSW and it is free also (you just need to write a NSW address). Many time people do Level 4 nursing certificate which helps you get a job in a nursing home as a care assistant. check www.seek.com and you can find some voluntary work in health care like nursing home or children camps etc. If you wish to get a GP job, plan for PESCI. Try to find observer-ship, approach every head of department as well as GP clinics and tell them you really are committed and you may be lucky. Call the IMG friendly hospitals like Woolongong, Royal Perth hospital, Charles Gairdner Hospital etc and send your CV to them. Finally, the harder you work the more you will find luck on your side. Help others so God will help you.
From A Job Offer to Obtaining the Visa
Once your CV is shortlisted for an interview, as per most location you just need a CV and cover letter to apply while in other places they require other documents like AMC result, IELTS/OET result. Some like NT and WA want you to submit your referee report as well when you apply for the yearly campaigns.But mostly they only check for referees once you have been shortlisted as successful in interview. Some services ask you to sign a criminal check form at the interview while other services ask you to do this once you have cleared interview so they can check your criminal record. You may also be asked to sign a working with children check form to have your children check done. You will have to submit 100 points of identification as per commonwealth rules. Your interview can be held face to face, online or through telephone.If you can arrange, face to face may be the best as it shows your committment. Once you have given the interview, if they are interested in hiring you they may sought for your reference, whereas some facilities get your referee report even before interview. If they offer you a job, they will apply for a 457 visa nomination for you and your family so make sure you tell them about any dependents with you like wife(s), children etc. Usually visa is not a big issue as USA and thus chances of rejection are very less. Visa will require you to satisfy their criteria like having health care insurance which you can buy online without any hassle, AHPRA registration etc. Once you are offered job, you will need to apply to AHPRA for registration, one part of the form will be done by your employer while the other is ddone by you and thus its a joint process. You will have to pay for both the registration and visa but your employer will have to nominate you for both. The visa and AHPRA process go side by side, but the visa is not finalized until AHPRA has registered you which usually takes more time than other things. Once all criteria is fulfilled along with the AHPRA registration, you are given the visa. Different documents are required like for AHPRA registration like 100 point identification,registration from home country, good standing certificate from home country, past experience certificates, CV, any criminal history or conduct disorder etc, PESCI result (for GPs) MBBS degree etc. Visa also requires almost the same documents with the addition of health insurance cover which can be bought online. Currently job vacancies are scare in Australia but still some fields are favorable like Emergency, GP, Psychiatry, ICU etc.
Flowchart of Australian Medical Career Progression and Pathways
Career Pathway: GP: 1 Year of Internship --> Medical Board Registration --> 1-2 Years of Residency --> 3-4 Years of Registrarship. You will be awarded a Fellowship in GP.
Consultant Pathway: 1 Year of Intership --> Medical Board Registration --> 1-2 Years of Residency --> 4-7 Years of Registrarship. You will be awarded a Fellowship from the designated speciality board.
Doctors in Australia and usually divided into Interns, Residents (JMO), Registrar, senior registrar, and consultants. Intern pay is usually from 50000 to 60000$ per year before taxes,residents from 60000-80000, registrars 80000 to 110,000, consultants 175000 to 350000.Doctors are allowed about 4 weeks of annual paid leave, one week paid study leave and about 10 days of sick leave every year. In other word RMO salary is about 33-38$/hr. Salary packaging is also done for doctors which is a tax-minimization system allowing all hospital employees in Australia to receive up to 30% of their salary tax-free. Mostly hospitals cover you for medical indemnity otherwise you can buy it yourself as well very cheaply. Hospitals don’t cover for your medical costs, rent etc. Pays are usually more in Western Australia and Queensland and low in Victoria, NSW etc. Benefits are also more in these states for IMGs. Residency is typically a further one or two years following internship spent working in the hospital or occasionally in community health settings to gain more clinical experience in a range of settings. In contrast to medical education following the United States system, internship and residency in Australia are considered pre-vocational terms where doctors have yet to commence their training in a specific speciality. Some specialist medical colleges accept entrants after successful completion of internship or postgraduate year 1 PGY-1. Most prefer applicants to have completed at least a further 1 to 2 years or more of pre-vocational training at the level of a resident PGY-2 to PGY-3 or more in order to have gained sufficient additional clinical experience prior to applying for a specialist training program. Clinical rotations and terms are at the preference of the resident and dependent on the availability of the health service there are no mandatory terms to fulfill for example, if the resident has aspirations to pursue enrollment in surgical specialty training, they would preference and request more rotations in the various surgical specialties for instance, Neurosurgery, Cardiothoracic, or Urology), vs if the resident had interests to pursue emergency medicine, he would probably benefit from further rotations in the various critical care specialties that is, Intensive Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, or Anaesthetics. Residents typically have general registration with the Medical Board of Australia that is having successfully completed internship in Australia. While the Medical Board no longer requires performance reports to be submitted directly to them, it mandates and delegates the responsibility to the relevant hospital administration, post-graduate medical councils and specialty colleges ensuring routine performance reviews and term reports from senior clinicians supervising their practice. Applications for residency is similar to that of internship, and is coordinated by the relevant state government through an annual recruitment campaign. Applicants have the opportunity to preference the district and / or hospital they wish to be employed at and are selected on a merit based system which typically includes a review of the applicant’s resume interview, and referee reports. Registrars or “trainee specialists” are doctors formally enrolled in a speciality (also known as ‘vocational’) training. After completing internship and one or more additional years as a resident and meeting the pre-requisites for the relevant specialty college, doctors can apply for admission to a recognized medical specialty training program. Registrarship or vocational specialty training is akin to an apprenticeship or clerkship in other professions. It is a period of on the job training and assessments in order to qualify for fellowship of one of the recognized specialist medical colleges, which allows a doctor to practice medicine independently and unsupervised in that relevant specialty field, and with this access to an unrestricted Medicare provider number and Medical Board specialist registration Selection into a specialty training programs are based upon merit and are highly competitive. Nowadays, most colleges require applicants to have previous clinical supervisors submit referee reports, and fulfill a number of criteria in their curriculum vitae which typically involve scoring the candidate Applicants with satisfactory CV are invited to to interviews or assessments that typically assess adequate medical knowledge to commence specialty training and explore psychosocially if the candidate if suitable for the specialty. Registrars pay an annual enrollment fee to be part of the specialty college (in addition to fees for exams and courses). In order to qualify for election to fellowship and specialist recognition, most specialist colleges have clinical, practical and exit exams, in conjunction with other assessments to assess the full range of skills and behaviors required as a doctor. Specialist training programs and examinations are administered by the individual colleges and vary between three and seven full-time years to complete, depending upon the specialty you choose. Part time training is available to most specialties, and dual specialty training is optional and streamlined for some specialties. Vocational training for most medical specialties is undertaken in a public teaching hospital however it includes rotations in private hospitals, regional, rural and community health settings. The exception is general practice, where doctors undertake most of their training in designated private general practices in a community setting. Registrars are employed and remunerated by the hospital at which they work for and thus are still required to submit an application for a position through the recruitment campaigns coordinated by the relevant State government’s ministry of health
Fellowship and their vocational training program duration after residency
Emergency Medicine: 5 Years
Dermatology 4 Years
Sports and Exercise Medicine 4 Years
Aneshtesiology 5 Years
Rural and Remote Medicine 4 Years
ICI Medicine 6 Years
Oral and Dental Medicine and Maxillofacial Surgery 5 Years Surgery 5-7 Years
Medical Administration 3 Years
Internal Medicine and Specialities Ex: Cardio Respiratory Nephro Rheumatology exct. 4-6 Years
Obtetrics and Gynaecology 6 Years
Opthalmology 6 Years
Psychiatry 5 Years
Radiology 5 Years
GP 3 Years
Pathology 5 Years
FAQ
Q: Do you need to clear the IELTS or OET to sit for the AMC MCQ Part 1?
A: No.
Q: Do you need to clear the IELTS or OET to apply for an internship and a work visa?
A: Yes, you do.
Q: How high should you score in your IELTS or OET?
A: An overall band score of 7.0. with a minimum of 7.0 in each component for one time applicants. In case you sat for the exam twice in a period of 6 months, then a minimum of 7.0 in the Speaking and Listening components, and a minimum of 6.5 in the writing and reading components are accepted. As for the OET, an overall score of B and minimum of score B in all four components is required, in case you sat for it twice in a period of 6 months, then an overall score of B with a minimum score of C in any component is accepted.
Q: Do you need to clear the AMC Clinical Exam Part 2 to apply for an internship?
A: No you don’t. You’ll have to clear it during the internship year to apply for the full registration. It’s recommended to clear it before applying for an Internship, which will enhance your CV.
Q: How long is the post-graduate training in Australia?
A: You’ll need to overtake an intership year under supervision for 1 year, then apply for a pre-vocational training residency post for 1-2 years, then a registrarship post AKA Vocational Training which would take from 3-6 years. If you do the math, that’s between 5-9 Years. 5 years for a fellowship in General Practice / Sexual Health / Addiction Medicine - Up to 9 years for a fellowship in Ophthalmology / OB-GY / Surgery / ICU /. Other specialties range in between those, taking logically 6-8 years in total. Strictly speaking, I’m not taking the paperwork delay or other inconveniences into account.
How To Become A GP Specialist in Australia
I have been asked to give info about the specializing in GP for IMGs. This is one topic which mostly people are well versed and is considered the easiest pathway. You need to secure a job in DWS area and then apply to AHPRA. You need to have 3 years GP experience to be considered for registration. RACGP Overseas GP assessment is recommended but not mandatory. GPS are funded federally so we have to comply certain Medicare rules. As an IMG you are restricted by generally two restrictions. One is 19AB that you have to work in District of workforce shortage (DWS) and if you’re a permanent resident or citizen you need to get 19AA exemption which needs you need to be in a 3GA training program which is a bit more competitive and as an IMG it generally means going rurally. There are three pathways to GP fellowship (GP is a specialist job in Australia). One is independent pathway and other is through a training program and third is ACRRM which is also another 3GA (very competitive). Independent pathway require 4 year work as a GP as assessed by RACGP out of which one year needs to be in Australia. You don’t need to have general registration to sit the exams. IMGs who have PR and citizenship can’t go through this pathway. This pathway is least supported and mostly you’ve to work and study by yourself. RACGP is making some study modules for this pathway but it’s early stages for that. 3GA program pathway is where PR and citizens can apply. Most of IMGs end up in this pathway as most aussies don’t want to work in rural area. This training program is of 3 years and you work as a registrar in general practice. You get weekly teaching and regular visits by RTO to check your performance. The exam for both the pathways is similar. First is AKT exam which is like MCQs and then is the dreaded KFP which has Pass Rate of 50-55% and IMGs have even lower pass rate. Once you pass that then is OSCE and if you pass all of them then you apply for fellowship and then to Medicare. One you become a fellow, 19AA restriction don’t impose on you. You can work in any region. Third is through ACRRM pathway which is highly competitive as they’ve limited seats expect a lot of skills beforehand to consider you. The exams are generally similar but it definitely helps you in becoming a excellent clinician in rural areas where you’ve got very limited support. In the end, just my two cent about another issues,I have many IMGs saying they can’t go to rural area due to family commitments even if your spouse/partner is working a white collar job and has to leave it to go with you, still you should consider it because GPS positions are very financially secure and will be able to bear the financial burden till you complete your fellowship. Moreover , it’s truly amazing working in the world’s 2nd best health system and even if it requires going to rural area to start your career here, you should seriously consider it…
Please express caution of those people who claim to offer paid online lectures for colleagues preparing for the AMC Part 1 MCQ. Some of them are legit, but I doubt the most of them are. Especially those with a fake username and Facebook Profile. Remember: You don’t need to pay anyone to teach you basic medical stuff as long as you have the material and you can study and prepare alone. And if you need help, well what is this Facebook Group for then? We are all here to help explain stuff and clarify all misunderstandings. Good Luck for your preparations and relax, everything is gonna be alright at the end.
All AMC Material:
https://drive.google.com/…/1jLi5khDHs_J49EZhnc9mbG3k1mG2CR4…
Useful Resource for Finding a Job in Australia
http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/…/publ…/content/findingAJob…
Flow Chart of GP Practive after AMC Exams
http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/…/publis…/content/firstSteps
Websites for doing medical courses in Australia
http://www.racgp.org.au/
http://www.criticalcare.edu.au/…/welcome-to-criticalcare-ed…
http://www.resus.org.au/
http://www.healthcourses.com.au/
http://www.medicalregister.com.au/courses.php
http://www.firstresponseaustralia.com.au/
http://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/
http://www.aimsi.org.au/
http://www.acem.org.au/home.aspx?docId=1
Websites for finding a job in Australia
https://nswjmo.erecruit.com.au
https://jobs.nt.gov.au/Home/Search
http://careers.jobs.tas.gov.au/
http://www.jobs.health.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215
http://melbournehealth.mercury.com.au/
http://barwon.mercury.com.au/
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/BendigoHealth/
http://peninsula.mercury.com.au/
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/LaTrobeRegional/
https://ballarathealth.mercury.com.au/
http://jobs.sahealthcareers.com.au/jobSearch.asp…
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/SJOG/
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/NorthernHealth/
http://www.smartjobs.qld.gov.au
http://southernhealth.mercury.com.au/
http://www.seek.com.au/
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/GoulburnValley/
https://acthealth.taleo.net/careers…/external/jobsearch.ftl…
Hospitals
http://nswhealth.erecruit.com.au/
http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Car…/Medical_Officers/index.aspx
http://www.jobs.health.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215
http://www.saimet.org.au/
http://melbournehealth.mercury.com.au/
http://barwon.mercury.com.au/
http://bendigohealth.mhr.com.au/
http://peninsula.mercury.com.au/
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/LaTrobeRegional/
http://ballarat.mhr.com.au/
http://stvincents.mercury.com.au/
http://www.easternhealth.org.au/careers/default.aspx
http://westernhealth.org.au/…/Medical_Career_Opp…/index.aspx
http://jobs.sahealthcareers.com.au/jobSearch.asp…
http://sjog.erecruit.com.au/
http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/browse/department/index.php…
http://erecruit1.mercury.com.au/NorthernHealth/
http://www.smartjobs.qld.gov.au
http://www.careersatsvmhs.com.au/main/jobsearch
http://www.rmhdoctors.org.au
http://www.mh.org.au
http://www.monashhealth.org
http://www.nhw.hume.org.au
http://www.southwesthealthcare.com.au
http://southernhealth.mercury.com.au/
http://www.awh.org.au
http://www.northerndoctors.org.au
http://www.rmhdoctors.org.au/
http://www.seek.com.au/
http://gvhealth.mhr.com.au/
http://jobs.careers.vic.gov.au/jo…/jncustomsearch.jobsearch…
http://www.health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=sp&did=3000000
