ANZCA does not pick trainees; a hospital department or state rotational scheme does, and you register with the college afterwards.
Typical start years; people vary by a year or two. Diamonds are exams. Stage list and sources in the pathway tab.
Very competitive at entry — below surgical subspecialties, well above ICU/ED/psych. Ratings are the encoder's 1–5 call from college numbers and r/ausjdocs; applicant-to-place ratios double-count people who apply in several states. Evidence rows are in getting selected.
The real selection event is a critical care / anaesthetics SRMO year in PGY3 that functions as a six-to-nine-month audition, followed by a June–September application window across the state schemes (VATS, QARTS, SANTRATS, WARATP, TATP, NSW networks). Entry is the bottleneck, the Primary exam is the second one; PGY4 is the modal entry year and PGY3 entry is now rare.
Anaesthetics primary. 2009b(15)97b(5) Describe the complement system. 10 years later I’m still trying to find the relevance for dedicating my synaptic connections for this question.
Anaesthetist. 1. Loved physiology, loved using drugs to tinker with physiology 2. No patience to wait weeks to months to see if what I did worked 3. Acute scenarios were the most engaging 4. Love a procedure 5. Ward rounds give me near death experiences 6. Pyjamas.
Plenty of people want to train to be anaesthetists. Maybe the government should fund more training positions? Nah, that would mean it was their responsibility all along.
100% unaccredited. You’ll functional be an anaesthetics reg for a year without the pressure of WBA, IT assessment and primary exam. Will look awesome on the resume as well, I’d say you’d almost be guaranteed to get an independent accredit job, and decent chance at scheme.
All 276 curated quotes by topic, trajectories and threads.
anzca.edu.au for the facts and summary, read 12 Sept 2026 · rating and pathway encoded by hand from the same sources · quotes are verbatim r/ausjdocs comments, community view not policy
Number = distinct authors who said it; dashed chips are single reports (under three authors). Hover or long-press a chip for the why.
Stages: anzca.edu.au, reddit.com, libguides.anzca.edu.au · terms: r/ausjdocs term-strategy collection, counted by distinct author, community view not policy
"Mandatory" is the college's word. Amber "community" rows are what the sub says panels actually want.
No scheme publishes a month-count. Benchmark 3–9 months is community consensus.
Canberra Health Services rotational scheme; single centralised process, applications ~July for a Jan/Feb start, interviews early September. Requires AU/NZ citizenship or PR, or an Australian working visa with current Australian practice experience.
The ANZCA page's ACT dates read as stale (listed as '21 July – 17 Aug 2025' for the 2027 intake). Pattern (July applications, early-Sept interviews) is reliable; specific dates are not.
Decentralised. Each hospital/network recruits itself through the NSW Health JMO campaign's Critical Care stream (Anaesthesia + ICU) — no statewide match, no standard MMI. Assessment is written application against selection criteria + CV + structured panel interview + referee reports. Apply to many sites. Independent one-year accredited posts are common alongside scheme posts. Feeder titles: Anaesthetic SRMO, Critical Care SRMO, ICU SRMO.
New for the 2027 intake: a separate SANTRATS NT stream with the majority of training time in the NT. Apply via jobs.nt.gov.au. Genuinely less-contested entry point.
NT stream dates for the SANTRATS NT application itself were not published in the report; only the NT RMO campaign dates are given (secondary).
QARTS (Queensland Anaesthetic Rotational Training Scheme) via the QLD Health RMO/Registrar campaign. No late applications. Requires a signed QARTS Applicant Declaration and two QARTS referee reports emailed directly to qarts@anzca.edu.au by the deadline. Interviews historically early August at the ANZCA Queensland office (West End, Brisbane), shortlisted candidates only "if deemed necessary". Posts are 6 or 12 months; regional rotation is compulsory. Requires AU/NZ citizenship or AU PR. Independent (non-scheme) jobs are rare; departments hire anaesthesia experience internally. Preference trap: PHO panels reportedly skip applicants who have preferenced QARTS.
careers.health.qld.gov.au blocks automated fetches; interview timing (early Aug) is from the QARTS booklet mirror and prior years.
SANTRATS (SA/NT). SA Health careers job #937888 for the 2027 intake. Single ~20-minute in-person panel at the ANZCA SA/NT office; mandatory rural rotation (Darwin or Mount Gambier). Community reports twice-yearly intakes. Feeder: SALHN Crit Care RMO (2–3 years), NALHN HDU/Anaesthetics (Modbury), ARRC at the RAH; unaccredited reg posts can convert to independent training with SOT support.
SA MET's Prevocational Acute & Critical Care program (SALHN, anaes/ICU/ED) is paused for 2027, expected back for 2028.
TATP across all three THS hospitals; advertised on the ANZCA clinical job vacancies page and TAS government jobs. Shortlisting on written application + CV + selection criteria; rotational trainees spend ≥50% of 4 years at RHH. A secondary source reports weights CV 30% / criteria 30% / interview 30% / general impression 10% — unverified.
TATP registrar application dates not published in the report; RMO campaign dates given as the feeder window. Scoring weights are secondary-only.
VATS (Victorian Anaesthesia Training Committee): one online application across four schemes — Eastern, North Western, Monash, Regional (VRTN). Each shortlists and interviews independently; if shortlisted by more than one you submit preferences and a match is run. 3 referees. Feeder crit care HMO3 jobs are recruited direct by each health service (not PMCV) and close mid-June, before VATS. Alfred explicitly does not participate in the PMCV match.
recruitment-cycles.md lists VATS as 10–24 Jun 2026; the ANZCA VATS dates PDF (1 Jun–3 Jul) is preferred as the primary source. Austin feeder dates are from recruitment-cycles.md [C].
WARATP. Advertised on MedCareersWA in June; shortlisted candidates interviewed late August–early September. Secondary sources describe a RedCap form and an in-person Perth assessment day with a presentation, interview and simulation OSCEs. Community: hard cap of 3 lifetime applications; ~10–15 trainees/yr from ~150 applicants. Does not require prior anaesthesia but expects registrar-level experience. Will not sponsor visas. Feeder anaesthetic resident jobs at FSH/SCGH/RPH open ~May (5–6 spots per 6 months); SCGH and FSH now hire internal RMOs only, RPH remains open.
WARATP's own application window and assessment-day format come from aussieclinicians (secondary) and Reddit; verify against MedCareersWA.
Dates drift a week or two each year; the calendar has confirmed vs expected windows.
Scheme-level: VIC (VATC) = CV + 3 referees, each program shortlists and interviews independently; WA = interviews, simulations and presentations; SANTRATS = department directors appoint; NSW = apply direct through the Ministry campaign. No numeric weighting published by any scheme. TAS (TATP) reportedly CV 30 / written criteria 30 / interview 30 / general impression 10. No national rubric. "We don't appoint trainees, this is done by the employer." College gate is 2 years gen…
Requirements and rubric: libguides.anzca.edu.au, anzca.edu.au, accessanaesthesia.com +4 · state mechanics: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, anzca.edu.au +3 · community rows from r/ausjdocs
Dots are sittings the college has dated; "approx." means only a month was published.
Hollow dots are hearsay — the poster was not citing a figure. A bar spans the components or years quoted; hover for the exact words.
"Cost to get on" is a name-based pick of the one-off fees paid before or at selection. The college schedule is a lifetime-of-training list at each item's own year, not one bill; community amounts overlap it and are never summed. Courses, travel and repeat sittings are the part the sub complains about.
Not shown: 2 paid products under three independent authors.
Exams and fees: anzca.edu.au, medicalboard.gov.au · claims, prep and costs quoted: r/ausjdocs exams-and-costs collection, community view not policy · paid prep products need three independent non-suspect authors and a free alternative to appear
Scored by the Anaesthetics rules — whether or not the title names the specialty — highest first, closing soonest next.
"Has anyone heard back?" reports on r/ausjdocs, 2023–2026 folded onto one calendar year; dashed line is the official date for the 2027 intake where published.
25 dated reports, weekly bins
9 dated reports, weekly bins
Jobs: last night's scrape, scored by hand-written rules (no AI) · units and offer reports: r/ausjdocs, counted by distinct author · campaign windows: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, healthjobs.nt.gov.au +4
Verbatim, one caution beside one encouragement per topic where both exist, the rest folded. Every quote links to the comment.
In every selection cohort, 1 or 2 candidates are almost known ahead of time, in that they have demonstrated a consistent track record of being liked and reliable and capable during a medium-term anaesthetic placement, aka the protracted job interview that is your entire anaesthetics rotation.
I got a scheme job last year as a PGY3 applicant. I built my CV around the ANZCA “roles in practice”. I had at least one thing under each heading. One heading I made my focus and had many things. It’s more important to have a little bit of everything rather than a whole lot of one thing like at the cost of having…
Zero advantage. Pay that money when you get an accredited position and you HAVE to pay it. ANZCA will hold out their hand for money from you every year for the rest of your working life. There’s no need to start coughing up cash prematurely - QARTS certainly won’t care.
If you’re actually set on anaesthetics Hervey Bay is perfect. Very small registrar and RMO pool with more accessible consultants. You can make yourself known very early and set yourself up for ICU/anaesthetics positions in future.
You’re not gonna like hearing this but the reality is that popular specialties, anaesthetics included, unfortunately require quite a bit of sacrifice to make oneself competitive. Moving across the state, living away from family, taking rural positions, working a job outside of your comfort zone, financial sacrifices…
I’m a NZ trainee, in my third year now. Interviewed and got accepted in my pgy4, started in pgy5. I didn’t really do any audits, no research at all. Just BASIC in pgy2. I did an ICU run in pgy2, in a small regional hospital where anaesthetists run the ICU, so got to know them all pretty well, went to theatre every…
I’m a new consultant, albeit not involved in recruitment yet for our scheme. I’ve also done a lot of ICM/PHRM along the way. Personally I wouldn’t give much credit to those courses/degrees/diplomas. I’ve never seen any correlation between those who hold them, and any clinical aptitude for actual critical care. They…
You have to do something to be competitive so may as well be strategic about it. A few audits Monash short course vs 30k USyd masters that takes 2 years Teaching med students once a fortnight and getting conjoint status Some combo of ALS2/BASIC/EMST/APLS etc Some hobby or volunteering on the side that makes you look…
I know it’s hard not to take it personally…but don’t take it personally. I say this as someone who probably interviewed you for anaesthetic SRMO + reg jobs here in sydney. It’s never personal. There’s just far more applicants for these jobs than there are positions. It’s extremely competitive. Additionally unless you…
I did undergrad med and did an elective in anaesthetics in fifth year in my home city. I then interned at that hospital. A medical RMO year (haematology, cardiology, neurology, ED) because I still was considering BPT. Then a crit care SRMO year (ICU, ED, anaesthetics, ICU). I treated the anaesthetics term as a three…
I coasted through my crit care HMO year - I just turned up and went home on time and didn't do much extra - most likely why it took me a while to get on. I somewhat regret not doing more to stand out during that year.
I’m 34 PGY3, just got in to Anaes for next year in Tas. Our HOD made a big deal in a recent meeting about wanting people with varied life/career experience (her exact example was “We want the PGY9 Vascular Reg”). The feeder year job is generally the SRMO year (now called Basic Trainee in Hobart as we got rid of the…
You'll probably tell me I'm wrong, but I went to tons of meets and greets when I was going for CC SRMO jobs. I asked questions, spoke to the HODs at the end. It doesn't matter. It's all smokes and mirrors. I ended up getting a place at the one hospital I didn't go to the meet and greet for - my home hospital. There are…
Three of the easiest ways of filtering 100s of applicants for reg jobs is: 1. Volume of anaesthetics (I think this is even more valuable in your first year applying). IMHO time trumps all when deciding between jobs. 2. FANZCAs as references with recent work history. 3. Do we know this person? This is a no brainer from…
Generally, anaesthetics is a "who you know not what you know" specialty, and your crit care year was your best chance to network and get lined up for an anaesthetic reg position. If you've missed that boat and now in ICU land it's not easy (though definitely not impossible) to get back into an anaesthetic job. A lot of…
1. I had a bit of everything in all of the CV sections, aligned with the ANZCA's Roles in Practice. 2. Being affable, showing ability and being available. Practice, practice answering interview questions in a way that doesn't make you sound like a robot. 3. Time is better spent getting to know the departments you want…
Master Crit Care is a waste of time and money if you want to do Anaesthetics. Useful if you’re a cardiologist or Resp physician maybe. Periop and clinical ultrasound courses - useful, if you’re actually interested in that stuff. Instead I’d suggest putting your time into working on all the other CANMED domains beyond…
The golden triad: hard-working, competent and nice.
Unfortunately I think its gotten to the point where almost all merit/experience is outweighed by who you know. I have seen pgy3 get both accredited and scheme, over applicants with years of experience in ed/icu/anaes. Having referees give you a good reference but also actively promote you to the right people and…
Was in same situation in 2021. Decided to just enjoy the year, learn the skills in a stress free environment without the added burden of primary study, and then apply for QARTS the year after. Having that job pretty much guarantees you entry unless you bomb your interview.
Obviously not having to do the primary is a huge plus. But starting again as an introductory registrar may be a hard pill to swallow if you’re already a very competent ICU boss. Navigating over qualification may be difficult in an off itself…Anecdotally, you may also have to move to get a job . Despite being over…
Started prepping months before the interview. Did about an hour a week with other CCHMOs. My department also ran 3 x mock interview sessions throughout the year, where we got feedback. In my own time, I practiced my responses for common questions, why x rotation, what do you bring, etc.
A little sad I didn't even get an interview offer 😭 PGY5, at least ~20 months anaes exp (12 months as a reg) - currently an independent introductory trainee Another 12 months in ICU/ED Built up my CV with QI/teaching/audits And I'm like stuck because no clue what I need now to even be considered 😭
I have never seen a good trainee not picked up after a couple of srmo years. I have seen a bunch of useless people get onto training simply by doing a couple more years.
A masters won’t get you any “points” per se. A masters of periop medicine *might* pique interest on a panel, but not over someone that’s used that time to get experience in high acuity care, and it won’t substitute for glowing references or interview performance. ALS2/PROMPT/NRP/CALS & BASIC are good courses, but you…
I only did a ALS2/BASIC, taught at university, had a cool hobby, and did about 5 audits. 6 months Anos time (all regional), 6 months regional ICU time, another 12 months ED time. Being a chill person, who gets along with the bosses goes a hell of a long way.…For Reference: Got offered Scheme position to start training…
For anaesthetics in NSW a major factor is who you know. There are so many applicants that SOTs and HODs even say outright they hire people they know.
I can’t comment on QARTS specifically but in NSW I got on as a PGY7 with my 3 month anaesthetic term through my ED training. … then applied for an anaesthetic reg job with 2 FANZCA references and a couple of cover letters sent around. I had ICU, paeds, paeds ED, and Gen Med registrar terms under my belt. I got 5…
The rest of it is far less meaningful - most departments have a very good idea who they're hiring well before the job applications open.
They expectations on me now as a junior trainee are low. They are even lower for a PGY3. To get a good reference you don’t need to be an amazing anaesthetic doctor who can intubate with your eyes closed and do a spinal with one hand tied behind your back. You just need to be a nice person to work with and show you’re…
The thought process (right or wrong) is that if you were an amazing CCSRMO your current hospital would either take you themselves, or if they didn't have a spot available they would strongly vouch for you behind closed doors to get a job elsewhere. So if some new hospital sees your application without having already…
I did my CCSRMO year as a PGY5. I did 2 ICU years before that. I’m a 3rd yr scheme anaesthetics reg now.…It’s becoming more normal as getting your first anaesthetic term (either via CCSRMO or ED/ICU reging) is the main bottleneck. Once you’ve built got the first anaesthetics term it’s easier to get a second. Once…
Can guarantee you we are not giving points for 10 courses. Sure those who get in may have done lots of courses, but there is no need to, and we are not giving any points for courses beyond ALS/APLS, EMST, BASIC, a difficult airway course (for scheme jobs, not SRMO jobs)…telling anaesthetic hopefuls they need to do 10+…
Always try to meet in person. Email them and ask if you can meet them and ask questions about their programme. Sometimes they will say no because they're too busy (but they'll remember your name from the email), some will meet over Zoom, some will meet in person. Always have a couple of questions prepared.
2 rounds of applying for anaesthetics this year and last year. PGY5. … This year I had fixed the deficits in my CV, saw an interview coach on an ongoing basis for weeks, did 5-7h/week interview prep for a month leading up to interviews. * Still did not make it on. In fact, am in the exact same spot on the list that I…
I interviewed for a NSW scheme job in PGY3 and got on starting PGY4. I had a 3 month anaesthetics term during my PGY3 year. I was keen on anaesthetics from medschool so I did all the courses/audits/research/teaching I could starting pretty early on. Good references also helped.
Generally there are so many applicants for the PHO jobs that they don’t look at you if you’ve preferences QARTS. You have to go hard after QARTS or a PHO job. Not both.
I got a handful of interviews and 0 offers for crit care SRMO jobs in pgy3, got on scheme in pgy6, don’t get down on yourself, just keeping seeking out opportunities and if you work hard you will get there
for those doing Crit Care and are metro (who don't have rural incentives for study) I'm already down many thousands in courses and travel, just so I can help get my foot in the door to be competitive. Courses that are simply tick boxes because the other 200-300 people applying have the same courses done.
Hospitals are very unimaginative places. Ask previous interview candidates for the questions they were asked. Not infrequently, the clinical question and the interpersonal scenario is the same from year to year.…I also video recorded myself so my practiced answers didn't seem rehearsed.
I shortlist for our anaesthetic training programme, and it remains nepotistic. I don’t think it’s wrong, but I also think most of the posters in this subreddit don’t appreciate the significant home team advantage they enjoy.
Ask a QARTS selection person or Qld ANZCA SOT what their application points are given out for, and scoop up all the points you can. I say this because (e.g in Tas) courses stop qualifying for points after a certain number of years, and the max points you can get for courses is 2 courses…Happy to be DM’d but only have…
The day I interviewed for anaesthetic training, there was a nationwide flight outage due to some technical issues. A number of candidates from interstate had to interview by telephone instead. I credit that little bit of luck for getting onto the program. It has gone on to affirm the age old phrase in medicine,…
Yeah, this comment is largely inaccurate these days. We have had a significant proportion of our service registrars and anaesthetic RMOs at RPH get onto the rotational scheme without ever stepping foot in Charlies. It's competitive, but there are reps from all rotational hospitals on the selection panels.
When I cross path with junior Asian doctors who want to get on competitive fields like anaesthesia, my biggest advice to them is to forget their Confucious roots and act more angmoh (the Westerners, literally "red hair").
I took a service position (that wasn’t even full time Anaes) and sat in it for 18 months before I got onto training halfway through PGY5 myself. I’m not at all an excellent candidate - just someone who showed up keen everyday, slowly chipped at building my CV, fostered my relationships within the department I serviced…
Do triathlons. They love that. Wish I was joking.
I just had a CCSRMO year with 6 months ICU (first half), 3 months anaesthetics (currently), and managed to get onto an inter-state scheme for 2027 without any anaesthetic referees. It is possible if you work hard, get good referees, and i would recommend CCSRMO even if anaesthetics isn’t in the first half of the year.
Why don't you contact the head of unit via their assistant and ask if there are some supernumerary, unpaid opportunities.
Your job interview is the year in the SRMO job. Best way to get on is to apply country wide, seek out rural / regional jobs where you get unaccredited reg experience, do your job well. Some places will support you as an independent trainee regionally too. If you pass the primary, no one will turn you down for a scheme…
Do a year of ED / ICU, max your airway experience, and get on next year.
If you pass your CICM primary before you get an anaesthetics training job, you will be rewarded 1) by an anaesthetics rotation by your home ICU hospital, and 2) are very likely to get onto ANZCA training the following cycle, as you've demonstrated you'd be able to pass the ANZCA primary.
I'd say most get on after their PGY3 year, or whenever they do their first 'critical care resident' year. Higher chances the more central metro you are. Several others get on within a year or two after that. Tips would be to let the SOTs know you're keen early in the rotation, do something beyond just turning up to…
According to many heads of departments with words to the effect of: people mostly get onto scheme unless they’re cowboys or psychopaths (gets found out pretty quickly and word gets around) or strike out after 5 attempts at the primary exam. I was independent for a year, didn’t even sit the exam and still got onto…
If you have a term that is =>6 months in an accredited department you just fill out the college paperwork, pay the fee, and you become an independent trainee. The barrier in anaesthetic training is getting a job in an accredited department, nothing to do with the college itself.
Can also use profesional development leave to shadow/assist an anaesthetist. I met an awesome supervisor in med school and he offered for me to do this in the future if I change my mind about surg and want to come to the dark side of the drapes. He said he’s had a few anaesthetics keen resi’s do this before, and…
I guess I count since I’m PGY6 now and have just gotten onto scheme this job cycle. Biggest differences to my application were a) picking the wrong SRMO job … basically didn’t get a good set of referees out of it and it set me back by one job cycle at least), b) doing a rural job (Manning, Bathurst, Dubbo unaccredited…
I went rural PGY1-2 and got onto Anaes in Tas for next year’s PGY4. If I were you, I’d go to a rural hospital that has both Anaes RMO positions and accredited Anaes Regs.
I think there's definitely a huge advantage in doing a crit care year at a tertiary centre, as that job itself is almost hand picked by the SOTs who have a huge say into the registrar selection criteria.
My journey: Undergrad med, intern year, resident year (medical stream), SRMO year (anaesthetics term 3), onto training.…Cynically, I think all the talk of audits and quality improvement is just lip service in the SRMO interview. They want workers.…The anaesthetic term is your 3 month job interview. Nail that and the…
Started training in PGY4. Independent accredited first year in the country, transferred into a metro scheme job with little difficulty. 3 months of anaesthetics as an intern in the department I applied to.…CV included standard courses, 3 audits, 2 pubs as a collaborator which barely count, one poster of an unpublished…
I honestly feel like I stumbled onto the training program... However by the time I decided to apply I had built up a fairly solid CV: • I was one year and a fellowship exam away from finishing ACEM • Was PGY10 • I had already done a bunch of critical care (including a year of anaesthetics) as part of the ACEM…
To be an "accredited" anaesthetic trainee you just have to get a job in a department that has been accredited for training, and then pay ANZCA their protection money. That department however might only offer you a one year contract, leaving you in a sticky position if you don't secure a "scheme" job (a 4 year contract…
Accredited = scheme/nonscheme (independent) - scheme gives you 4 years of training and helps you get all your necessary experience - independent/non scheme gives you shorter contracts, with no guarantees of completing certain requirement such as paeds. But the training time is still recognized by ANZCA.…Unaccredited:…
You’ve got to bike to work as well for additional credit
It took me two years after my crit care year to get on - I'd say I wasn't the best or most proactive HMO though!
- Apply to all states for training - Apply to Peter Mac unaccredited reg role (pretty much guarantee to get in scheme after, but I think they only take ICU reg's now) - apply to VIC independent jobs, they come up from time to time, keep checking seek - depending how tied you are to VIC, can try get an independent/ICU…
But anecdotally, I do know people that got onto training with 3 months anaesthetics because they were VERY well liked in the department, and just clicked with the department heads. Conversely I know people with nearly 12 months anaesthetics experience who didn't get places. At least in NSW, Anaesthetics is notoriously…
at the VATS info nights when I was applying 5 years ago we were told not to bother applying if we did not have anaesthetics experience, however Victoria is perhaps more beholden to its crit care HMO program than some of the other states…everyone I know who did get on from ED or ICU had an anaesthetics rotation and at…
ANZCA credentials hospitals, not positions. If you can get an anaesthetic reg job you can sign on for training as an independent trainee.
For anaesthetic jobs in NSW the selection criteria answers are marked and together with CV (also marked) determine interview invites
Crit Care SRMO gigs are the stepping stone into anaesthetics for the vast majority of people. Definitely competitive to get on. >300 applicants for all of them going around.…You usually need a healthy amount of courses done (aim for around 10), some research/audits, some education/teaching stuff, and something to make…
At my hospital, three months as a crit care srmo is all that is expected. At some hospitals, the queue is out the door and so some people do entire years as SRMOs or unaccredited regs. This is honestly not something I recommend. The phrase I hear from the supervisors of training is: we can teach technical skills and…
1. I think it’s becoming increasingly common, especially if your anaesthetics time as a Critical Care SRMO is in the second half of the year, after job applications 2. Very significant. Generally you either need to have worked within the department you are applying to (and have a good reputation) or have one of the…
At my hospital I reckon 4 or 5 of the trainees are ex ED (who had done 1 to 3 years traiining). If anything it's probably the most common Segway now to anesthetics. Apply for QARTS and do a few audits in the meantime.…Just appreciate that the training still has LOTS of afterhours still and also that the exams suck. The…
I was told by the SOT at my hospital that med reg, ED, ICU and paeds are seen as the most useful runs prior to anaesthetics.
It doesn't matter at all for getting on, but you absolutely have to get whatever your hospital's PGY3 crit care job is.
Best advice I can give is to take broad based RMO terms, get some ICU and ED time as a Registrar, do some audits that actually change institutional practice (a lot of people are just doing cv-padding audits and it’s *very* obvious to selection committees), and show interest in anaesthesia to a friendly, accessible…
But the RMOs who come for a rotation, are friendly and keen and provide just the right amount of banter without being too confident - always tend to get on the program.
The rumours that float around is anaes > icu > ed/med > other but no idea how true that is.
I said I always liked anaesthesia and intended on dual training, and had shown aptitude and commitment during my anaesthetic terms well above what was required, and my referees could attest to that.…To be honest the interview matters in that you can fuck it up, but the barrier for everyone is that you need some senior…
Not official official but inferred from conversations and communications from those hiring…Qualifications score points e g any post graduate certificate and up Career history and highlights (prev work Hx in anaesthesia / crit care) Courses (only those in the last X years will be counted towards points) Numerical…
FWIW, every crit care HMO who has gotten onto the program in my state had everything you've described, and everyone who did less is an ED reg now. I'm sure that person knows what they look for in a candidate, but for people on the other side of the banner the anecdotal evidence is hard to ignore. Most people would…
Not necessarily. I applied for QARTS and then PHO as second preference, a few years ago. Didn't get onto to QARTS but did get interview for and got the PHO job.…I was later told in some places they wait until after the selection meeting to do interviews to avoid unnecessary interviews.
They keep the actual scoring system pretty tightly under wraps. Any critical care experience at a PHO/registrar level is valued. Courses like BASIC & EMST/ATLS used to count, but I’ve heard they might not any more. I’m not sure if it’s still the case, but quality/safety work (e.g. audits, M&M presentations) used to be…
Yep I did an unaccredited reg year before getting on.
I’m currently PGY6 and this is my first year of training after being unsuccessful previously.…PGY3 SRMO year I didn’t have fantastic references amidst a large SRMO cohort. PGY4 I went rural to get good quality anaesthetic time…which came at the expense of all my anaesthetic time coming second half of the year and…
I had a total of six months when I applied. If you don't have a CCSRMO job as a PGY3 continue strengthening your CV and further developing in other critical care rotations, as you mentioned you have ICU.
The two friends of mine who got onto anaesthetics fastest did these pathways St Vincents Crit Care SRMO for one year-> Vinnies scheme the next year Bankstown Crit Care SRMO for one year -> Westmead scheme Both are absolutely brilliant tbf and I am not sure how reflective that is going to be of everyone's chances.
I got in at PGY9, but on reflection, as someone who - at the time of their successful application - was about 18mo away from finishing a different fellowship, I am exactly the sort of person that's making it difficult for more junior JMOs to get on.
Junior icu reg roles are generally easy to get (they need the nights cannon fodder). CCSRMO roles are competitive. Icu will not give you time in the specialty you want to do. CCSRMO will. Also a 6 bed ICU is hardly an ICU. I don't see how this is a hard choice? You're likely gonna end up doing an icu PGY4 anyway…
100% unaccredited. You’ll functional be an anaesthetics reg for a year without the pressure of WBA, IT assessment and primary exam. Will look awesome on the resume as well, I’d say you’d almost be guaranteed to get an independent accredit job, and decent chance at scheme.
Yes that's why CCSRMO jobs are so competitive, and also why people will do terrible ICU jobs for the hope of a few months of anaesthetics.
Alfred and Western are touted as the “golden ticket” hospitals where pretty much 100% of their anaesthetic HMO’s get on the next year…Monash has a high number of anaesthetic CCHMO’s but a much higher number of first year reg spots w/ a track record of most anaesthetic CCHMO’s getting on to training each year. I believe…
A CCHMO job with anesthetics rotation and without anesthetics rotation are essentially 2 different jobs with different levels of competition. Simply telling workforce you won't stay there if they don't give you anesthetics won't make a difference. You will need to be at the top of the CCHMO cohort to be offered an…
St V, Stg, Gosford and Nepean have schemes and do tend to favor their SRMOs as a possibility
From recent years, I think it's safe to say that the old adage that everyone at Peter Mac gets onto a scheme is no longer true
CCSRMO is really only a mix of ICU/Anaesthetics +/- ED. Personally I feel that the main benefit of a CC SRMO job is the Anaesthetics time. ED terms/SRMO jobs are not hard to get. ICU terms/SRMO jobs are also not relatively hard to get. Anaesthetics is pretty niche and the learning curve is steep if you haven't been…
It might be joever. My hospital in QLD for eg only hires through QARTS. And to get experience they hire internally.
Also (unless it's changed), Gosford offers 5 months anaes/ 5 months ICU/ 2 months ED CCSRMO job which is a lot more anaesthetics time than most places.
Anaesthetics time >>> ICU time for ANZCA selection both clinically and for other roles in practice demonstrating opportunities You’re right that stepping up to reging may be seen well as well, but some units have CCSRMOS act as very junior reges anyway. Also, regional 6 bed unit and “well supported” does exist and but…
the 3 main tertiary hospitals (RPH, SCGH, FSH) offer perioperative RMO jobs which are 6 months each, with FSH’s job being a secondment to Fremantle. They absolutely don’t just take their own hospital’s applicants…The other two options that I’m aware of are the SJOG and JHC crit care years.…None of these gigs expect you…
From the research I did, Peninsula has 10-11 positions with 2/10-11 missing out on anaesthetics. Of that cohort, last year 2/10-11 made it on to training. Eastern has ?6 anaesthetics HMOs who are guaranteed 6-months Anaesthetics. Last year 2/6 made it on to training. Do your own research but those are the numbers I…
It's 9 months as effectively an anaesthetic reg, as all you do is theatre and the occasional week of Pain/off the floor. The other 3 months is unaccredited ICU registrar. Most jobs have at least something that's irrelevant to anaesthesia.
Your options for anaesthetic time are a second CCSRMO year, an ICU reg year with some anaesthetics time (some are well-advertised, others you need to ask around to see what it takes to get some anaesthetics time e.g. you may need to pass the CICM primary in some ICU reg jobs to get a long rotation to anaesthetics), an…
Keep in mind that Eastern Health has one of the word ratios of applicants to positions of the metro hosptials. They currently have 4 scheme positions and … Almost every single one of those HMOs is gunning for a scheme position. In addition there are 2 critical care registrars (6 months anaesthetic/ ICU), a pain…
Nepean have 8 CC SRMOs each year (4 ICU, 4 anaesthetics), while Westmead have 20. I've always thought it'd be extremely difficult to stand out at Westmead…
Independent jobs are a rarity in Queensland and very rarely advertised as so. Presumably a PHO jobs in an accredited centre can be used to start independent training if the SOTs and other relevant people approve, but it's not often done. From what I understand, QARTS is not a huge fan of it.
For eg. Alfred crit care HMOs basically have a 100% chance getting onto the program, wheras the SOTs at say Eastern don't have the same influence
Crit care HMO3s are entirely interchangeable (you have essentially no skills and no other marketable points that the next person on the list doesn’t have), and while on an anaesthetics term are completely supernumerary. You have less than no leverage, and trying to behave as though you do will just annoy the department…
Some are well known to keep all their own trainees, some are pirates who will try to take 'the best' from anywhere. If you have heard it said that your crit care year is a year long interview, then that scheme probably keeps their own - you both have a far better chance at a place there and a worse chance at a place…
This is the only anaesthetics rotation available to us. There is no other way to get anaesthetics exposure in WA
Monash has the best crit care HMO3 job for anaesthetics, in the anaesthesia SRMO year. Not sure if there is a similar job elsewhere in the country. It also has the most registrar jobs. However, if you don't want to work at Monash longer term ( and there are plenty of reasons that might be the case), be aware that you…
Hugely depends on the department. Usually things asked at the interview or advised in the listing whether they support independent training. A lot of departments don’t in SEQ in my experience, as a verbal agreement to avoid undermining QARTS.
ICU > ED experience for anaesthetics, but anaesthetics time trumps both obviously. I know some ED SRMO roles in Syd will potentially give you an anaesthetics term, but I don’t know of any ICU SRMO roles that will.…I think for anaesthetics hopefuls, it would be Anaes SRMO > CC SRMO > ED SRMO with anaes term > ICU SRMO…
As far as I’m aware Liverpool are now struggling to staff their ICU and are now hiring more crit care SRMOs than they used to just to keep their icu roster staffed. This in return minimises the number of people who get anaesthetics early and also increases your competition for anaesthetics PGY4 at livo job…Westmead on…
I disagree. The critical care srmo positions are designed to give people an intro to critical care and some experience, and to help set them up for their next job. Current SRMOs this year should not be ladder pullers to those behind them. Those coming up behind them also deserve a chance to get some Anaesthetics…
Pros: \-Very good anaesthetics department, good culture, great bosses who are keen to let you be hands-on, complex patients which means good learning, plenty of opportunities to do audits/research etc. Cons: \-You'll do a Relief term (3 months) where you're essentially doing PGY1/PGY2 level ward work.…-Unfortunately…
This is the only way wollongong icu manages to recruit at all beyond imgs. They have even agreed to fund a reg and give them 6 months anaesthesia as long as they do their icu turn and not quit like the rest.
A lot of the critical care years in melbourne have 'streams' with seperate interview panels. When you interview medical workforce will know which you are being considered for. It is a good idea to ask beforehand to know what you are being considered for. eg. Alfred advertises for 24 critical care HMO 3 roles but only 6…
RMO jobs: Crit care at SALHN, 2-3 years with ICU and anaesthetics rotations, filled in with gen med, periop, ED. HDU/anaesthetics NALHN job, mostly at Modbury. ARRC at the RAH. Also most networks have some limited GT RMO Anaesthetics rotations. Each hospital also has reg jobs that can be unaccredited or you can start…
It's sort of an open secret, but PHO jobs (in anaesthetics, at least) almost never get offered through the campaign. Departments typically either recruit these outside the campaign, or already know who they are going to offer the spot to. Either that, or they keep them for someone they know in case they don't get onto…
SANTRATS is competitive and favours SA/NT applicants. Independent jobs come out regularly through the year. Keep on checking the SA Careers website, as the push notification is unreliable.
You have to be really careful about which hospital you CCSRMO at - time of anaesthesia is not exactly that important when it comes to picking the right CCSRMO job. It’s more important to choose a hospital that will take their own CCSRMOs onto training positions. At places like Westmead you’ll just be 1 of 20 lost in…
Yes, but sometimes it doesn’t seem to come up when you search for anaesthetic registrar. So you need to Google the programme and then actively search for it around the key dates. Yes, you can apply for both. If appointed, SANTRATS will supersede your independent job, and your department support this.
rumour is only 2/4 Western Anaesthetic HMOs got on last year, and only 2/3 of the Monash Anaesthetic SRMOs. Point being things change every year…
Not sure about this year but for a long time it’s been 4 SRMOs, it’s a 5-term year with one term of anaesthetics in either term 1 or 2 (pre interviews). Depends on how many scheme trainees they hire each year (usually 3-5 but varies depending on multiple factors).…Historically 1-3 of them are offered scheme but I…
Good luck with that in NSW, system only let's you accept one. Your offer may lapse and be rescinded if you don't reply in 48hours. Also it is becoming rare to get onto anaesthetics PGY4, so having anaesthetics first half isn't the deal breaker it was once seen to be.
Most anaesthetics training schemes have a feeder crit care job where 99+% of their trainees come from. The other 1% coming from another schemes crit care job.
In my experience, those regs did a not-quite-CCSRMO year in PGY3, but then did a legit CCSRMO year (or anaesthetic SRMO year) PGY4. Lots of hospitals advertise CCSRMO years, but ship out anything on a Norad of 3, anything intubated, anything requiring dialysis. Or shaft their SRMOs with 6 months of MAPU or ward work.
Getting 6 months of anaesthetics in the first half of the year is more important than the location If i had to make a tier list is would be... Alfred/ Western > Austin/ RMH/ Geelong > Monash/ Peninsula/ Peter Mac > Northern/ Eastern/ VATS aligned rural hosptials The rankings are purely based on the chance that…
It’s not just path, the golden age is over for pretty much every specialty. The only difference is whether your specialties bottleneck is at entry to training or at the consultant job level. Aside from ED and ICU, the barrier to entry for almost everything else has seen a massive jump. As we continue to increase the…
Don't listen to the doomers. ~50 people get onto scheme jobs in metropolitan Sydney alone every year. There are differences between sites, but most places are quite consistent in the "type" they're looking for. Know what you're aiming for, network effectively, be chill but competent, and you'll be fine.
Plenty of people want to train to be anaesthetists. Maybe the government should fund more training positions? Nah, that would mean it was their responsibility all along.
Theres going to be exceptions and this is anecdotal based off my experience. I have multiple colleagues who were middle of the run in med school and middle of the rung as juniors now more than half way through training and passed exams no issue. Its not a walk on- but its not competitive like surgical specs.
One of my tutors got lost. He was looking for the gastro department to speak with the HoD. Accidentally ended up in Anaesthetics offices and was offered an anaesthetics job. He said he was happy enough with anaesthetics and couldn’t be bothered looking for the gastro department.
The recent medical workforce supply and demand report showed the proportion of prevocational doctors transitioning to accredited specialty training positions: - 2018: 52% - 2024: 33% - 2048: 15%…The truth is no other generation of doctors has faced worse conditions than the current one, and every year it’s going to get…
The bottleneck is at the start. There is minimal sunk costs doing some crit care/general RMO terms while you wait to get on. By PGY3 you basically know if you're a high chance to get on within a year, or if you need to make a change (CV/interview/location). Spare a thought for the surgeons where you don't have a clue…
If you look at the Medical School Outcomes Database report you can see that the number of graduating medical students who rate anaesthetics as their #1 specialty of choice has doubled since 2013, which would of course increase competitions completely separate from the wider bottleneck problem.
No protection for unaccredited non-training positions. Lots of UK applicants with years of crit-care experience also applying.
It isn’t a reflection on you at all. The competition really has picked up now and the reality is for a lot of positions you’re often dealing with 10:1 odds. The system does favour people who “play the game” and even still that’s no solid guarantee of a position. But for starters, being in ICU instead of ED already…
The normal pathway is intern - resident (med or surg) - crit care HMO - training Yes it is competitive, but a lot less than a lot of other specialties imo, because there are a LOT of anaesthetists. The program in VIC takes about \~60 people per year, compared to something like 10 aus wide for ortho…The other factor is…
why does this get asked daily can we have an anaesthesia mega thread/ FAQ But to answer all of your questions, most of the CV's look the same on paper, it's who you know, if you don't get an independent year, you rotate through unaccredited land desperately hoping to land a job with the right exposure to the right…
Usually the bottleneck is early, getting a crit care job with anaesthetics exposure before the registrar job interviews are held that year. If you manage to get one of those jobs and don't get on after, you're _probably_ not getting on (there are a few who persist and manage, but it's rare). We don't have the pgy10…
Crit care SRMO jobs are mostly geared at taking fresh PGY2s going into critical care for the first time. Many jobs will not take PGY4s (whether that’s explicitly written or not).…It was a rough year for NSW schemes. Lots of excellent trainees at hospitals with good reputations for getting people onto scheme are stuck…
Pretty competitive, but not too bad I think, esp compared to surgical specialties or the more competitive medical ones. Once you get some sort of crit-care year, most people tend to get on either immediately or after a year or two unaccredited. It helps a lot, but not crucial, to get a crit care job in a tertiary…
of the 300, at least 100-150 would be indistinguishable i.e. done multiple courses, have an audit going, solid references. every hospital I have been at has 20-30 residents doing exactly this, and this is just intra-state applicants.
For example, Western Health has an excellent track record of getting their Critical Care Residents onto the anaesthesia training program in VIC, but there are 4 spots and 220 applicants. In other metro hospitals as as RMH, there are 6 positions. Austin, another tertiary hospital, has 10 spots. Monash, on the other…
The current state of crit care training = unless you are one of the best candidates in Australia you're going to have a hard time getting on training, particularly if you're from interstate. It might take 6 months or several years longer than it would have 5+ years ago. It's unfair, but it's supply vs demand. The…
you’ll need to find yourself an SHO job in either Christchurch or Dunedin…I think there’s \~40 applicants per position these days
I contacted a hospital this year regarding the timeline on their critical care jobs and they said that they had 200 IMG applicants alone for the job.
The numbers vary a bit year to year, but somewhere between 8 and 11. There were over 200 applicants this year, but who knows how many had it as their first preference. Cover letters that were clearly just reused, spelling errors, or a general lack of care didn't get interviews. People that were known to the department,…
Usually at least a 1:10 for spots available and a small training intake per year ~ 15-18 positions for the entire state…I would say the average PGY to start is 5-6
Those 350 applicants are all applying to the same jobs, there isn't 350 unique applicants. If you look at the states that have statewide schemes, the numbers work out at about 10:1.
I'm a first year reg in NSW who got on half way through last year (pgy4).…With the speciality getting much more competitive over the last 5 years, it's becoming increasingly common that people need to do 2 crit care SRMO years (pgy3 and pgy4). I got on half way through my second crit care year after having done 6…
It's not really 350:2. Out of the 350 that apply to all CCSRMO jobs 50-100 will be completely ineligible (e.g. simg with no idea what they're applying for), 100 will be weak contenders who haven't prepared well, and the final ~100 will be the actual contenders for the ~80 spots in NSW.
It would be interesting. They realistically could not have appropriately assessed or genuinely considered well over 300 applications in the less than 15hrs from the closing date to the release of their interview offers.
The reality is that there are more applicants than jobs available, not everyone will get on. This is not just for accredited anaesthetic jobs but also for ccsrmo jobs. They will usually have 200-300 applicants for 4 jobs.
Because of the huge amount of applications, selection panels are just picking people that either 1) They personally know or 2) Have absolute killer/gunner CVs (like top 5% stuff). I've been told from someone who does interviews for a diff Crit Care stream that if the panel knows you (and someone can vouch for you in…
I know 3 PGY5 ICU/ED registrars with incredible CVs from interstate who didnt get an interview with 6-9 months of anaesthetics experience. I think that the times of Queensland being good for interstate applicants to get on is starting to change. It seems to be based on selecting regionally rather than accepting…
There are very qualified senior candidates with a lot of ICU registrar experience routinely missing out on ANZCA spots. It seems like the pathway is getting more difficult year on year as excellent applicants remain in the application pool…The recent QARTS intake had a success rate of 13.9%, with majority of the…
I'm a PGY4 and have been unsuccessful in applying for anaesthetic SRMO jobs three years in a row (masters in progress, x1 publication, audits, all the right courses etc). This was the first year I even managed to get an interview (was not successful).
W.A now only has a few anaesthetic resi jobs, so the previous PGY2 to start PGY3 timeline has been blown out. I would say you’ve done lots of the stuff you need to do it’s just unfortunate that others have done more. It’s the same when applying to the rational training program - previously peopl would get on to start…
I'm a first year trainee, did 2x crit care srmo years before I even got an interview (along with audits and presentations at conferences).
Anaesthetics primary. 2009b(15)97b(5) Describe the complement system. 10 years later I’m still trying to find the relevance for dedicating my synaptic connections for this question.
every specialty has a hurdle. For gen surg, it is throwing all their unaccrediteds at the wall of SET applications, and hiring whoever can scale the wall.…And for us, it is this exam where you forget 50% of the information as soon as you read your pass email. Every boss in front of you passed the exam.…It is a test of…
Pretty much every and anything. My wife tried to get into critical care as she’s slightly interested: didn’t get a position - now a haematologist. A friend didn’t get on training after Crit care year: later a GP. A good mate failed primary the maximum five times: retrained under GP anaesthetist pathway, also…
while some of the contents are relevant, there’s a broad swathe of things we are expected to remember and present with nice 10 minute essay or live viva performance that is simply beyond the true clinical relevance.…I hope these examples are adequate to illustrate why there are plenty of otherwise excellent doctors who…
Ditto. It starts the clock on the primary which is the big reason I didn't pull the pin.
Exam fees are 7K + travel + hotel. Textbooks, exam courses, other essential courses (which may be interstate and each cost several thousand - EMAC >$3K + travel), College fees + registration (7K in first year), + the usual AHPRA fees, indemnity fees, home office set up costs. Easily 20K+
it sucks outlaying $2000 for it, but having said it, the paid one was more high quality
Have just spent 1500 hours studying for the ANZCA primary over the last year.
The Pass rate for the each Primary FRCA MCQ sittings has been 45-93% (over the last 5 years or so) vs ANZCA Primary MCQ is 69-82%
I'm anaesthetics - have been studying for this stupid primary exam for a year and paying $6k per sitting
Probably around 600-700 hours over the course of 1 year
This year the ANZCA exam went from $5800 to $6400 with no notice, no explination or justification.
Wagga is accredited with CICM for training both before and after the CICM primary exam (can complete 6 months core ICU time there for advanced training post exam, as well as your medical, rural, acute med, anaesthetic and paediatric requirements)
$4K on exam-related costs including travel interstate for the exam, accommodation, books, courses
Why not sit the primary in August?? If you push yourself it’s doable. But if you aren’t going to sit the primary, then don’t start the clock by becoming an IT. Just enjoy the year for experience and start studying for 2027 primary.
it's a $7,000 dollar exam that a large portion of anaesthetic regs are failing to get through despite a year of dedicated study, sometimes after multiples attempts.
Ironically you were the one that mentioned EMST which is $5000-6000 and makes it inaccessible for most PGY1-3s.
When I was PGY3 I got 0. They won't tell you anything unless you triggered rejection by incompletion application e.g. no CV or no AHPRA registration. I got my rejection May the next year.
NSW applications open on 15th July and you can apply for the Crit Care SRMO roles. Other options are Unaccredited ICU/ED Reg roles or ED SRMO roles - whereby you can do 9 months ED and can try to negotiate an ICU or Anaesthetics rotation.…I’ve know previous people who have done ICU or ED Reg years and then gotten into…
You need to build relationships with people in the medical workforce department, as they hold the power to allocate terms.
It's very site dependent. For this reason, I encourage trainees to sit the primary exam as early as possible, and don't fuck around with the study commitments.
Keep med workforce happy so they give you a PGY2 anaesthetics/ICU rotation in the first half of the year (underated - srs unfortunately)
Purely from job POV, if you can’t get any anaesthetic time in first half of the year it makes it really hard for any anaesthetic department to give you a look for 2028 since you’d be an unknown quantity, where nobody has any idea how well you might perform in a registrar position.
for some jobs like Anaesthetics or critical care where hundreds apply, it’s often just too many to call or email every person so usually only first few on the eligibility list get notified manually
Yes, but if you happened to get your crit care year with no anaesthetics in the first 6 months you possibly got a worse deal than missing out on the crit care job altogether - you then are less likely to get another crit care year and also are very unlikely to get an anaesthetic reg job. The pathway is very…
Try and get a critical care SRMO position as a PGY3, preferably with an anaesthetic rotation in the first half so you've had some experience prior to applying.
Rejection letters out 😬
Aug 31st
Exams in ANZCA have to be sat between months 7-24 in order to progress. If you are in a regional hospital that is only allowed to accredit time for 52 weeks, and you choose to do your exams and fail (reasonable fail rate in ANZCA exams) you’re going to be in a spot of bother trying to get your next job.
Given the deadline for most first round offers was today (48 hours since being sent out), there will be more that will be sent out in the upcoming days/weeks!
They all come out Monday and at the same time, from my exp as a pgy2 last year. Other offers can come out sooner after e.g. I got a nepean offer 3 days after initial offers last year.
If you receive an offer you’ll be contacted by the department the day of the HOD meeting. There’s only a few departments (mostly scheme) who will contact the next day. If you haven’t heard anything yet, it means you unfortunately haven’t received a first round offer. It makes the day that the HOD meeting occurs a bit…
Commenting for those who might read this in future cycles. Not receiving an email for preferences is solely a product of that hospital’s admin and isn’t an indication of anything. Everyone who interviews (even just at one place) should receive a preference form.
According to NSW HEALTH, offers should all be released September 1st (or during the 1st week of September). Good Luck! 🫡
Anaesthetist told me in 1999 to get onto the program you went to Royal north shore theatre break room and wrote your name in the small black book, and the next year you were a registrar
Most unaccredited anaesthetic registrars are tacked with a bunch of ICU service provision (think Ryde, Canterbury unaccredited) - you're almost doing that already.
Gosford is good for anaesthetics exposure as it is one of the few hospitals offering anaesthetic terms for RMOs.
If you are good and they can't accomodate you at Westmead (they don't take many onto Anaesthetics training straight from SRMO, and truthfully it's probably not the best place for ITs), they will usually try and help you get a job elsewhere.
Townsville has lots more anaesthetic opportunities as junior with intern and jho rotations, as well as 6 month rmo terms generally reserved for pgy3 onwards.
All of the real anaesthetic hmo3/srmo jobs (at least for Austin/St Vs/Alfred/Monash/RMH/Western which basically covers the vast majority of people who get onto the program) are controlled by the anaesthetic department rather than workforce - hence any job that functions like this is mostly there to provide bodies for…
This is why in WA, service reg anaesthesia roles are around, but the actual number of rotational trainees is limited by the number of Perth Childrens Hospital anaesthetic registrar positions that are available (about 20 spots each year).
Joondalup health campus (non tertiary but still very much WA metro-y) offers pgy2 critical care year with anaesthetics icu!
As an aside the GVH ANZCA scheme you mention is an independent job fraught with its own issues down the line but certainly not impossible to pursue, just be wary they’ll also be looking at city training rejects as well not just locally for this job, not easy!
One of the CCSRMO jobs is in Shoalhaven, an accredited site for ANZCA training (Illawarra local health district) and the hospital is expanding.
Port Macquarie is also known to be good for anaesthetics as an SRMO and registrar but difficult to get the 12 month anaesthetic jobs, but they do have a 6month/6month ICU/Anaesthetics job that is accredited.
Canberra Hospital has an PGY3 SRMO crit care year with 6 months ICU and 6 months anaesthetics
The ol’ bait and switch. Critcare years have been staffing EDs for more than a decade, and only getting better at this purpose. Becoming useless as a critcare year but WF finds little concern in that.
Honestly that sound suspicious and if I was you I’d already be thinking about backups. This is definitely not standard practise.
Anaesthetics is definitely NOT a backup and hasn't been for many years. It's now one of the most competitively applied for training programs available. I can tell you that anyone who thinks my speciality can be a backup is not going to get a look in at interviews. We are interested in people who are committed to the…
I would tell them that they need to give you a anaesthetic term or that you will be rejecting the offer. Whole year of ED is just a wasted year imo. ICU would be better. Don't trust them unless they provide confirmation in writing.
International applications without an Australian permanent residency definitely puts you at a disadvantage. I think it is a NSW and ACT Health rule (I have confirmed with JMSU) that they have to prioritise residents before you get an offer.
Before taking the Taree job, talk to people who've done it. It's not got an amazing reputation, and you're gonna wanna make sure you're well supported as a first time reg...
If you want to get into anaesthesia, critical care experience - ideally active, and on-going - would be beneficial. Certainly more so than random locums outside of those specialties. ICM is better than EM for this too. I’ve been involved in shortlisting for training. Many of my fellow shortlisters can take the view…
Anaesthetics has ballooned in competitiveness over the past few years. There are people with >6-12 months of anaesthesia time and solid references that have missed out on QARTS positions. I don't want to give you false hope so I think it is unlikely they would even interview someone with no anaesthesia time. That might…
unfortunately medical workforce has figured out they can coerce a large number of career anxious CICM/ANZCA hopefuls by labeling an ED/leave relief year as a “Crit Care RMO year” given that the term is not well defined.
Locums are usually a death knell for applications, especially in my state. Better to do anaes adjacent service jobs like hyperbarics, chronic pain, etc
The unspoken gateway to anaesthetics training in WA is to spend 6 months doing the postoperative care unit (PCU) RMO role at SCGH. To get this role, most need to have completed a year as an ICU or ED service registrar before being considered, so prepare to step up then demote yourself. The anaesthetics training…
The painful part of it all is that I had a Bathurst ICU/Anaesthetics Registrar job offer which I declined because I wasn't financially ready to take on a rural job (Sydney mortgage, family circumstances) and also nervous about taking on a senior role in a state/service I haven't worked before.
I've heard along the grapevine that SCGH offers a few coveted spots for interns to undertake an anesthetics term, and that if you're successful its an excellent predictor of getting onto training down the track.
Monash Crit Care have PGY2 jobs which do not offer ICU or anaesthesia but arguably are a pathway into a SRMO.
I got a Northern Hospital - critical Care/Anaesthetics HMO interview offer today :))
so u can always get a tertiary job in PGY2 after doing intern year at midland/joondy etc (met a couple PGY2’s at midland who applied for anaesthetics RMO jobs at one of the tertiary’s and got the job so working at the tertiary isn’t required pre-req for the anaesthetics RMO jobs)
Joondalup Hospital/Ramsey Health offers anaesthetics to interns, 22 intern spots for 2025.
Alternatively, I was considering applying to Ballarat/geelong(barwon) but they only offer anaesthetics terms in pgy3.
I think the fundamental issue some people may have is against the interview process itself, rather that interview coaching. Many feel that interviews don't actually select the best person for the job. Many would prefer a better system (not that I have any suggestions for what this would be). From what I've observed…
Interview is a SKILL. Coaching is about improving that skill so the interviewee could express him or herself BETTER and be even more AUTHENTIC (rather than an anxious mess). Coaching is NOT about teaching you how to lie.
I am a boss. I get reference requests all the time. My inbox receives McShitloads of emails a day. Yes your reference is important….but so is a lot of stuff. My core business is gassing people, not handling admin work. I’m just not good at it and I’m very disorganized. But I will always do my best to get the references…
I would ask the application committee. For example, I put a head nurse down as one of my three referees for Anaesthetics. My reasoning was that we work so closely together with nurses, that it made sense to include their perspective on me. But I asked the application committee first. They said definitely get at least…
Absolutely this. Get >50 emails a day, and every SRMO under the sun either asks for a reference or even worse puts me down as a reference without asking. If I wanted to give you a bad reference I’d just do it. If I haven’t done the reference it’s because I missed the email amongst the thousand others NSW health…
I interviewed with QARTS last year, I got a waitlist position so I definitely didn’t ace the interview but I felt good about it either way. By no means is what I’m saying absolutely right, just my interpretation and experience. The interview format: There are 3 back-to-back 20 minutes stations, each with 2…
If you want to do anaesthetics, the Northern QARTS rotation is usually a bit easier to get on to, especially if they already know you, so starting in Mackay wouldn’t hurt your chances of getting on to QARTS
Joondalup has a critical care rotation which will give you a 3 month anaesthetic stint.
There are also anaesthetic service reg positions in some peripheral hospitals (Armadale, Midland, Bunbury, Joondalup, Geraldton) but these are competitive and you’d probably need some anaesthetics experience before you could do these jobs as they’re predominantly service provision positions to fill roster gaps.
As mentioned, there are 6 month periop jobs at FSH/SCGH/RPH which have some exposure to anaesthetics and ICU.
For anaesthetics terms as an SRMO that are longer than 3 months, RPA, Nepean, Concord, Wagga that I know of.
I have a 5 year ADF ROSO ahead of me however, due to a combination of lifestyle and long term earning potential factors, I am considering buying this out to pursue a career in crit care, ideally anaesthetics.
Private work is completely dependent on proceduralists, surgeons and established groups. Unlike a physician, you have very limited ability to drum up your own work through referrals or reaching out to GPs. Being available and competent does not mean the work is accessible. I know several who are 'stuck' working public.
1. Everything eventually becomes boring, even in the fast paced hyper acute specialities. 2. A well done Anaesthetic looks boring. It is in the planning and experience. If it doesn't, something has gone wrong. If it does look boring, good.…4. Look at the nuts and bolts of the speciality. Can you stomach that for the…
We’ve just had a few years where you were basically guaranteed a boss job with your FANZCA in a major hospital. Now it’s all change. The last 0.5 FTE permanent fraction offered by our tertiary centre attracted 14 shortlisted interviewed candidates, including PFYs, established private consultants, & candidates from…
Consultant life though is amazing; I am working 0.6 FTE and earning a lot more than I was as a reg. I'm carefully curating my private lists to work with surgeons who I respect and who respect me. But I've noticed that even the ones who were rude/dicks to me previously treat me very differently now that I'm a…
There's regular boss FTE for anaesthetics going round at the moment, depending on state with above average pay.…New FANZCA's that are finishing now with good references easily make-up 1.0 FTE public and private.…The ASA workforce report literally says that we need to train more anaesthetists.
PGY3 (as in intern > resident > reg) is pretty rare these days. PGY4 is more common, and at my hospital is the usual method of entry (usual but non-exclusive). Maybe 30% of regs here enter PGY5.
have you applied to other states? sounds like in that 12mo your peers worked harder than you did if you performed worse this year. be realistic, getting onto training as a pgy3 is becoming nearly unheard of
PGY5 isn’t yet time to give up. Since the general range of getting on is PGY3 ( the stars must align) to PGY7 . The average person gets on PGY4- PGY6.
yes. i can see you're fishing for another answer but you're at the right conclusion - if you haven't got 6mo anaes by end of pgy4 you are stuffed. other states are different - QARTS almost exclusively hires PHOs (unaccred reg) so if you are keen on anaesthetics or bust then move now
Ok then well PGY5 definitely normal now, PGY6 a bit late, after that happens but you have to have been doing something significant with your time over and above SRMOesque type gigs.
How do you define competitiveness though? A mere “applicant : success” ratio for each cycle of entry? The probability of success for every person who has ever applied at least once? The median number of years it takes to get on? Median survival on Kaplan Meier survival curve?
Anaesthetist. 1. Loved physiology, loved using drugs to tinker with physiology 2. No patience to wait weeks to months to see if what I did worked 3. Acute scenarios were the most engaging 4. Love a procedure 5. Ward rounds give me near death experiences 6. Pyjamas.
Wish I’d tried harder for ophthal. Kept getting told as a junior doctor how hard it was to get on training etc etc. But I’m happy where I am now.
As a PGY1 you should be concentrating on being a safe, competent and trustworthy doctor. SRMO positions are 2 years away and honestly just look to get through your intern year. Yes anesthetics is competitive but it’s not like surgery where you need to be grinding for cv points and looking to pass the GSSE.
Piggybacking on this. As someone who runs a SRMO and ANZCA trainee scheme, complete agree re: masters crit care etc. complete waste of $24k as you’ll learn all the content in far more detail anyways for your primary. However when scoring applications, do have to give some points to those who have done these…
Short answer: no. Middling answer: online diploma mills - like USyd - are purveyors of RMO+ level courses masquerading as specialist teachings... Largely a complete waste of time/money if you're doing it for points/specialist knowledge. With the exception of statistics which is terribly understood/taught at most…
Anaesthetics here: - It’s essentially having solid references with clout enthusiastically saying how impressive you are and those who would bat hard for you, and then being able to sell yourself, your experience, and back up what you’ve done on your CV and why it’s relevant to you being where you are and how patients…
They’re completely different and if you want to do ophthal, you better gun for it (hope your dad is an ophthal) 1. Anaesthetic SRMO, then crit care, then ICU then ED 2. Anaesthetics is site dependent, no official points 3. Hell no for anaesthetics
Three glowing references from anyone are better bad ones from anaesthetists. Two glowing references from anaesthetists are better than 3 from non-anaesthetists Three glowing reference from anaesthetists obviously is trumps
No FANZCA reference is probably the biggest single issue with your application. The rest of your CV sounds pretty standard.
Just a caution (if you're applying in NSW) that NSW Health only lets you submit once through checkster. It was a massive task to change my references.
A negative or equivocal reference, in a sea of positive ones stands out enormously. That will cost you. A badly written cover letter - particularly if you appear not to have done the basics, like spell-checking it, or getting the name of the hospital or scheme correct. Anaesthesia is about attention to detail. If you…
It sounds like you’re in W.A. Your options to getting an anaesthetic 6month term are. These have all closed now, so would be for next year - FSH/Freo periop rotation - I think you have to be a SMHS junior to apply - SCGH periop - must be a SCGH JMO - RPH periop - historically was open to everyone (not sure anymore)…
First focus is just to get onto training. Its getting harder, anaesthetics is no exception. Townsville is a major regional centre with all subspecialties except burns and solid organ transplants (getting kidneys soon). No real major issue getting volume of practice, plenty of major cases and good procedural…
Wagga has scheme , think it’s the only regional hosp in nsw that does. They send you to westmead for 2 years i believe. Take one applicant a year
Easiest independant positions to get: Regional NSW Easiest schemes to get into: QARTS, TATP, some NSW Unaccredited years don’t exist like you describe OP My recommendation: ask a 1st year anaesthetic reg on a scheme what to do to get on
There are no PGY2 anaesthetic terms in WA. Other WA hospitals refuse to take applications outside form their own hospital. But yes I should have applied interstate I just didn’t realise it would be this competitive
As someone with a reasonable anaesthetics-orientated CV who got onto training for PGY4 the only states I got offers or even interviews from were the one I worked in at the time and the one I spent PGY1-3 in. Its harder to get an interstate offer without a specific connection to the state.
Competition nationally for anaesthetic places is very strong, and the smaller states are highly attuned and pretty dark on people who might be coming across to get through and then go back.
I had to actually leave the public system for a year to work in a private hospital as an ICU reg and was able to get anaesthetic time there as well. I twice went to second round interviews and struggled again to get jobs despite working extensively on my CV and interviewing skills. I took a step away from putting…
I’m going to be honest here, you applied for a highly competitive position in an increasingly competitive speciality as a PGY2. You realistically had a 1 in 5 chance from the get go, and that doesn’t even factor in some of these applicants may have had things you don’t, like more connections or registrar…
If you do a rural placement at Bega, Wagga, Cooma etc you might get some exposure to ICU and anaesthetics, but not a formal term in those areas
The two things that would impact me would be No anaesthetics term at RPA vs relocating to Wagga and making friends there only to then move back to the city after a year or 2 for reg jobs.
Stops being useful to the doctor, but becomes ever more useful to the health service.
I would keep a close eye on any Anaes/ICU roles that turn up in Australia. Out of cycle jobs are less competitive and it Mayr be your ticket to getting a reputation that pushes you forward.
Only issue with submitting a highly non-credible application (mainly with no FANZCAs as referees) is that you may get your name known for the wrong reason. Plus some schemes - like WA - only allow three attempts then you’re barred from re-applying.
9 people, counts not rates; median 0.2 yr to getting on from the 3 whose start and outcome both fell inside the dump.
PGY2 here currently on maternity leave after having first bub. Planning to go back to work in Jan amounting to about 8 months off. I've recently turned 26. Was gunning for anaesthetics and was lucky…comment ↗
I am technically PGY3 but finishing my RMO PGY2 year as I went on maternity leave after doing one term as an RMO. I have recently moved further from work due to family reasons, and am now closer to a…comment ↗
I’m Crit Care inclined so CC/ICU/Anaesthetics SRMO jobs were the bulk of my applications, but I applied for a few ED SRMO jobs too. This probably was a dumb move but I didn’t apply to any general SRM…comment ↗
I have been fortunate enough to have been offered a CC SRMO job for next year. However, the hospital is an hour drive away. I’m not willing to move for multiple reasons. I am pretty tolerant of a lon…comment ↗
I’ve been working in a regional area for the last 6 months as an SRMO gunning for a particular specialty. The commute is 1h15 one way, for family reasons i couldn’t move. Honestly, the commute comb…comment ↗
I'd love to be able to document everything as it happens, but when I'm the sole HMO in charge of a rural ED with 3 simultaneous cat 2s and 4 cat 3s, I simply don't have time to sit down and write not…comment ↗
I was a PGY3 in a rural ED by myself overnight running stroke calls, STEMIs, traumas. Actually had no direct supervisor in that ED either, so nobody to call for advice except for paeds and obs. This…comment ↗
I'm a first year trainee, did 2x crit care srmo years before I even got an interview (along with audits and presentations at conferences).comment ↗
About 45 hours a week (Anaes, Vic regional), but also probs 10 hours a week exam study on top of that for the last year 😢comment ↗
I quit halfway through general residency in PGY2 to move OS. I'm now applying again back in the same network (this time as a fellow). Medical Workforce is a large organisation - they won't remember y…comment ↗
My fellow crit care / anaesthetic docs - I'm moving back for another Anaesthetics fellowship year and haven't worked in Oz for 7 years so am a bit out of the loop. What current resources / apps / sit…comment ↗
I was PGY2 at the time and had a Crit Care job lined up in my health network for PGY3. I was doing a lot of bullshit research for the Anaesthetics department and realised it was pointless and there w…comment ↗
Finished Internship age 31. Now PGY8 Anaesthetics and will be a consultant as of Feb (Europe). Returning to Oz for fellowship and SIMGcomment ↗
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