Is it heading in the right direction?
The preceding article by Clarke and Morgan discusses a new form of education and training for medical specialists in Australia. The programs at the Australian School of Advanced Medicine at Macquarie University have pre-Fellowship (general specialist training) and post-Fellowship (subspecialist training) components.1 Here, I concentrate on the former. Both the formal university involvement and the new funding model proposed in the article have major implications that warrant widespread discussion.
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- 1. Clarke R, Morgan MK. Education programs at the new Australian School of Advanced Medicine at Macquarie University. Med J Aust 2007; 187: 685-687. <MJA full text>
- 2. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Education — post-graduate. Ottowa: RCPSC, 2006. http://www.rcpsc.medical.org/residency/ (accessed Oct 2007).
- 3. KPMG, for Consortium of Australian States and the Commonwealth. Costing and funding of teaching and training activities in Australian public hospitals [consultancy report]. Adelaide, 1996.
- 4. Peter Phelan Consulting. Medical specialist education and training: responding to the impact of changes in Australia’s health care system. Discussion paper for the AHMAC working party to research issues relevant to specialist medical training outside teaching hospitals. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 2002. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/36A9BD41833D656FCA2571D30008BB2E/$File/respall.pdf (accessed Oct 2007).
Peter Phelan is Chairman of the Governing Board of Cabrini Health, a not-for-profit Catholic health care service.