Joint AMC – MBA Preparedness for Internship Survey

The Preparedness for Internship Survey was run jointly between the Australian Medical Council and the Medical Board of Australia. These organisations work together to set national standards for medical school programs and the intern year.
The AMC has not recommenced the Preparation for Internship Survey following COVID-19.
Since 2019, the Medical Board of Australia’s national Medical Training Survey has provided insights into doctors in training across Australia. To support the success of this survey and avoid survey fatigue among interns, the AMC decided not to run a separate national survey.
While the Medical Training Survey includes some questions specific to internship and prevocational training, the Medical Board has indicated that additional questions could be considered.

For more information, visit: Medical Training Survey

Evaluation of the survey

The original survey was designed to gather information about how work-ready interns feel after medical school and to improve how medical schools prepare graduates for internship.

Under direction of the Preparedness for Internship Survey Steering Committee, AMC staff undertook an outcomes-based evaluation of the survey in 2020-21. The evaluation found that the survey has been an effective quality improvement tool for medical schools’ curriculum reviews, for collaboration between the early phases of medical education and training, and for the AMC’s accreditation functions.

The evaluation also concluded that over three years, the Survey has demonstrated that interns in their first year after medical school have generally felt they were well-prepared for practice. In some areas there was lower reported preparedness, including prescribing medications and providing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

Through its accreditation processes, the AMC has asked medical schools to identify the reasons for lower ratings and report on work to ameliorate them. The evaluation revealed that this work has resulted in broad and sometimes substantial changes to medical programs.

Read the full evaluation report.

Results from previous years

• 2019 survey
• 2018 survey
• 2017 survey