The need for quality and quantity in emergency medical care rotations for interns

Gosbell, Andrew D; Mitchell, Rob D; Brazil, Victoria A; Killen, Alana M

doi:10.5694/mja13.10176

Topics

To the Editor: A national registration standard for internship will apply from 2014.1 In addition to 10-week rotations in medicine and surgery, interns will need to obtain 8 weeks’ experience in emergency medical care. A national framework for the accreditation of intern training programs is also being developed.2

1 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Melbourne, VIC.
2 Townsville Hospital, Townsville, QLD.
3 Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.
4 School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD.

Correspondence: Andrew.Gosbell@acem.org.au

Competing interests:

Victoria Brazil and Rob Mitchell were members of the Australian Medical Council Working Party on Internship.

1. Medical Board of Australia. Granting general registration as a medical practitioner to Australian and New Zealand medical graduates on completion of intern training. Melbourne: MBA, 2012. http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD12%2f 9504&dbid=AP&chksum=wbPeZldtyqPMG vIkbt0Qgg %3d%3d (accessed Jan 2013).
2. Australian Medical Council. Internship in the national registration and accreditation scheme. Canberra: AMC, 2012. http://www.amc.org.au/images/Accreditation/Internship-in-a-national-registration-and-accreditation-scheme-2012.pdf (accessed Jan 2013).
3. Chong A, Weiland TJ, Mackinlay C, Jelinek GA. The capacity of Australian ED to absorb the projected increase in intern numbers. Emerg Med Australas 2010; 22: 100-107.
4. Brazil V. Interns in the ED: the real challenges of increasing numbers. Emerg Med Australas 2010; 22: 97-99.
5. Aram N, Brazil V, Davin L, Greenslade J. Intern underperformance is detected more frequently in emergency medicine rotations. Emerg Med Australas 2013; 25: 68-74.
6. Fox GJ, Arnold SJ. The rising tide of medical graduates: how will postgraduate training be affected? Med J Aust 2008; 189: 515-518. <MJA full text>
7. Brazil VA, Greenslade JH, Brown AF. Enhancing capacity for intern training in the emergency department: the MoLIE project. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 165-168. <MJA full text>

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