To the Editor: Joyce contends in her recent article that “medical workforce supply levels follow a predictable, if lengthy, cycle between phases of shortage and surplus”.1 If this is the case, the scramble by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) to find internships for graduating medical students2 represents a stunning lapse in workforce planning.
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- 1. Joyce CM. The medical workforce in 2025: what’s in the numbers? MJA Open 2012; 1 Suppl 3: 6-9. <MJA full text>
- 2. Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Communique. 18 June 2012. Perth: AHMAC, 2012. http://www.amsa.org.au/advocacy/internship-crisis/ (accessed Jul 2012).
- 3. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Medical Training Review Panel twelfth report. Canberra: DoHA, 2009.
- 4. Australian Medical Students’ Association. National internship crisis updates [webpage]. 2012. http://www.amsa.org.au/internship-crisis (accessed Jul 2012).
- 5. Newton K. Govt vows to expand intern places. Australian Doctor 2012; 24 Jul.
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