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The Australian Medical Council has been completing work for the Medical Board of Australia to provide a standards framework for intern training in the national registration and accreditation scheme which came into force in July 2010 and is inviting submissions on that work. The AMC is seeking comments on these documents by 17 December 2012.
Download an information paper on the developments.
The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act establishes a National Board, the Medical Board of Australia, whose powers include registering suitably qualified and competent people in the medical profession, deciding on the requirements for registration in the profession including requirements for supervised practice in the profession, and developing or approving standards, codes and guidelines for the profession.
In the implementation of the national registration and accreditation scheme from July 2010, the Medical Board of Australia asked the AMC for advice as the designated accreditation authority for medicine, on three issues concerning intern training:
- the standards for intern training;
- what should be expected of interns at the completion of the period to enable the Medical Board to grant general registration; and
- how the AMC might apply a national framework for intern training accreditation to the current State-based accreditation processes of post-graduate medical councils to ensure that appropriate and consistent standards are in place in all jurisdictions.
The work began with the development of advice on what should be expected of interns by completion to enable the Medical Board to grant general registration. This work has been completed, through the Medical Board’s consultation on the draft standard, Registration standard for granting general registration on completion of internship.
The registration standard defines the basic requirements of an approved intern year for granting general registration. It also aims to provide provisional registrants with a degree of certainty that they will be granted general registration if they meet the requirements of the National Law, any relevant registration standards, and if they perform satisfactorily.
The registration standard will be supported by other documents, which the AMC has been developing on the Medical Board’s behalf. The AMC is consulting on a number of these additional documents, including:
1. A set of global outcomes statements for the intern year that draws on the well-accepted Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors and AMC graduate outcome statements for primary medical education.
2. A process for assessment and certification of interns as having met the requirements for granting general registration in the national system.
3. A national framework for intern training accreditation process that harmonises different approaches to intern training accreditation across the country.
The AMC has developed these documents based on its experience accrediting medical programs provided by medical schools, and specialist medical training and continuing professional development programs provided by specialist medical colleges. It has taken account of the effects of the introduction of the National Law on the accreditation of health profession programs and providers and the registration of health practitioners. The AMC documents also take account of and acknowledge the considerable work by the postgraduate medical councils and the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils to develop good practice guidelines, standards and procedures, and educational guidelines, such as the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors.
The AMC acknowledges that the draft documents do not indicate the way in which transition to these proposed new processes would occur. An implementation group has been established to work with stakeholders to identify implementation those issues that need to be addressed and resourced.
Please provide your comments by email to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or by mail to:
AMC Accreditation Section (Intern training standards)
PO Box 4810
Kingston ACT 2604 |
