Intern and Residents Guide 2012 - The Australian Medical Students ...

The Medical Student Tsunami
So, you’ve heard about the ‘medical student
tsunami’ and the ‘internship crisis’ but what is
really going on with internships in Australia?
In recent years, the Federal Government has
significantly increased the number of medical
student places in Australia; they have also
helped the development of new medical
schools. This investment is an attempt to deal
with a chronic shortage of doctors as well as
an ageing population. In addition, universities
have themselves increased the number of
international full-fee paying medical students.
These measures have resulted in a significant
increase in graduate numbers, with an increase
from 1,587 in 2005 to an expected 3,430
graduates in 2012 .
WHAt iS tHe PrObleM?
Even though student numbers have increased,
numbers of internships have not increased at
the same rate.
WHAt iS needed tO inCreASe
tHe nuMber Of internSHiPS?
An internship is a training position as much as
it is a job. To ensure educational quality, every
internship rotation needs to be accredited –a
lengthy process. Different organisations are
responsible for accreditation of internship
posts in each of the states and territories; they
tend to be known as Postgraduate Medical
Education Councils (PMC) or Institutes of
6 Australian Medical Students’ Association
Medical Education and Training (IMET).
Creating junior doctor positions also costs
money; the state has to pay wages and
entitlements, as well as invest in supervisors.
With public hospitals already reaching their
capacity to train junior doctors, new internship
positions are likely to be in private, community
and rural settings.
WHAt HAS been guArAnteed?
In February 2010, Health Ministers reiterated
their previous commitment to provide all
Australian medical graduates (Australian
citizens) with an intern place to allow them
to achieve full registration. However, they
only agreed to guarantee internships for
Commonwealth Supported Students. No
guarantee has yet been made to provide
positions for international or domestic full-fee
paying students.
WHAt AbOut internAtiOnAl
StudentS?
In determining access to internships, domestic
students are usually prioritised ahead of
international students. This means that they
will likely be the first students to miss out on
training positions. In 2011 many international
students experienced significant anxiety
waiting to receive later round offers. Whilst
no international students who remained in
the system missed out, it is likely that some
withdrew their applications after waiting
months after the initial allocation without
receiving internships. However it is likely that
in the 2012 allocation some international
students will miss out on an internship. For
more information about the situation and what
to do, visit the International Students’ Network
page on the AMSA website at amsa.org.au.
WHAt needS tO be dOne?
The data in relation to internship positions is
alarming and should be cause for concern for
both medical students and tax payers. Unless
more positions are created, the Government’s
investment in medical student places will
have been futile; students, universities and
governments will have wasted their time and
money. While there are signs that key players
are starting to address the issues, more
needs to be done. AMSA and the AMA have a
comprehensive list of proposals towards fixing
the problem.
The federal, state and territory governments,
as well as the universities, all have roles
to play. AMSA believes that until Australia
has undertaken robust planning on training
capacity and workforce need, there should be
no further increases in the number of students
enrolled into medical schools in Australia. It
is essential that there are sufficient numbers
of quality clinical training opportunities for all
medical students, both during their primary
medical degree and as they progress through
prevocational and vocational training.