The job comes first, the College second: RACMA eligibility literally requires you to already be in a RACMA-accredited (or provisionally accredited) training post, with general or specialist registration without conditio…
Typical start years; people vary by a year or two. Diamonds are exams. Stage list and sources in the pathway tab.
~100-115 trainees nationally, 12-28 new Fellows a year, no published ratios. 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.
s and a minimum 3 years FTE clinical experience involving direct patient care (medical-administrative experience doesn't count). Then a College application in one of two windows a year (Period 1 for 2027 entry ran 28 Jul - 28 Sep 2026; Period 2 carries a 25% surcharge). Minimum 3 years FTE training, a mandatory Masters-level program of five core subjects, a business-case critical appraisal and an Oral Examination sat in Melbourne. Technically open at PGY4; in practice hiring skews PGY5+ and many entrants already hold another fellowship.
Ive actually already completed AFRACMA. Honestly it was hugely underwhelming for the cost. It felt like a money grab from the college with no useful learning to be taken away.
MBBS completed = Doctor.
Hard to get a job de novo. Usually done through internal promotion within a health service. But opportunities do pop up (a couple being advertised on the FRACMA job board at the moment). Quite competitive because the jobs are so limited.
Leadership is always a thankless job because you can never please everyone. So uhh thanks, I like that we have doctors represented in administration and not just MBA types. I'm glad it exists as a speciality.
All 40 curated quotes by topic, trajectories and threads.
racma.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
Term advice: nothing encoded yet — not published.
Stages: racma.edu.au, reddit.com · 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.
St John of God Health Care: 'we also offer medical education and medical administration registrar positions' (multi-site). WA Health services advertise via MedCareersWA. RACMA FTP Period 1 for 2027 entry 28 Jul - 28 Sep 2026; Period 2 +25%.
Medical Administration Registrar recruited via the RMO & Registrar campaign; interviews late July, offers mid-August. One application reaches many HHSs.
Western Health, Barwon Health, Eastern Health, Epworth ('2027 Epworth Medical Administration Registrar'), Monash Health advertise directly: mostly 12-month fixed term, starting 1 February, 43 hrs/wk, advertised Aug-Oct.
Individual VIC ads were seen on aggregator boards (LinkedIn, WorkinAUS, Jooble); no employer-page URLs captured except SJOG.
Dates drift a week or two each year; the calendar has confirmed vs expected windows.
No national scored rubric; the employer selects. Candidate must already hold or secure a RACMA-accredited Training Post. Structured CV on a prescribed template + personal statement + 3 referees (+1 reserve).
Requirements and rubric: racma.edu.au · state mechanics: sjog.org.au, careers.health.qld.gov.au · community rows from r/ausjdocs
"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.
Exams and fees: racma.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 Medical administration rules — whether or not the title names the specialty — highest first, closing soonest next.
Faded bars are expected, not confirmed. Only 8 dated offer reports mention Medical administration, too few for a chart. Full detail on the calendar.
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.
Ive actually already completed AFRACMA. Honestly it was hugely underwhelming for the cost. It felt like a money grab from the college with no useful learning to be taken away.
I personally think the AFRACMA course is particularly useful for clinicians who are nearly finished or have already attained their clinical specialty fellowship and are seeking to develop skills in clinical governance, financial governance, leadership and management styles, human resource skills, change management,…
If you decide to do the AFRACMA just know the course is a waste of time and basically just revenue generating by the college. It's an expensive way to get some post nominals which is probably good for jobs but you won't learn jack.
Medical administration isn't taught at med school, and working as a JMO and even as a consultant doesn't necessarily equip you with the knowledge and skills to be a health care administrator. Sure you work at the coal face, but that doesn't equip you with the knowledge and skills to develop policy and procedures which…
Try doing the actual FRACMA… they make the RACP look like a charity
Totally second this. I am a senior consultant and have been recently shoved into a management position. Clinically I am fine - it’s taken a long time to get to the point in my career where I am (I think) pretty good at my job. But I have no idea how to manage staff, rosters, budgets and comply with the executive…
The RACMA registrars required to be a mid level reg or higher, they often only took people after 4+ years of clinical work and excellent references. Some RACMA reg's had been ATs in training programs that they didn't ultimately want to purse. One left rad onc to do RACMA. One was an ICU fellow. Another was a pediatric…
I did it because as a bedside doctor you can make a difference for an individual patient but as a medical administrator you can make a difference to systems of care and ultimately making a difference to many patients!
Some like the advocacy, policy and project work to affect systematic change regarding hospital and health service operations * Some like working in the field of clinical/corporate governance and business/public administration * Some just like the powerplay and to climb the ranks and thrive on the bureaucracy and…
AFRACMA and FACEM here. Support the final paragraph strongly. Offers insight into the broader system and variety of work.
Med Admin is a specialty training pathway best pursued after you’ve spent some decent time working at the coalface of clinical medicine, preferably having acquired a fellowship of a clinical specialty. Plus it’s also a good backup that if you can’t find work as a DMS or CMO you can fall back on your clinical specialty…
Come from a clinical background and preferably have completed a specialty fellowship, and spent sufficient time working on the wards, in the theatres and emergency departments. This is crucial to understanding what the clinicians do at the coalface and to appreciate the patient experience as well as how non-clinical…
I did an MHA after being in this same space. I agree with others that the MBA is probably a more versatile option, but I personally decided that it was really best for people transitioning out of healthcare (at least in the public sector) rather than looking for leadership roles. The MBA programs seemed focused on a…
My understanding is it depends on whether you want to do the AFRACMA (Associate Fellow RACMA) or become an actual FRACMA (Fellow). The former is something you can do by completing the Leadership for Clinicians program (which presumably you could do concomitantly with med reg) whereas the FRACMA is it’s own dedicated…
It’s a shame in a way - I got my AFRACMA by pulling out of the FRACMA program after a year, and the actual content and training opportunities in the program are quite good (much better than in the straight AFRACMA). The college administration is appalling though, and an insane money pit…
Adding for the commenters, it's a requirement for both public health and med admin training pathways that you can't apply for until pgy4 but can get rpl for, so saves you time. I think they're changing the public health requirements now against this though.
Had a patient who did med admin after pgy3... Not sure that helps any
My experience is that medical administrators have actively worked against clinical interests. They become part of the machine.
MBBS completed = Doctor.
Have to ask: what's the point of this college? Like, I'm in med school but I used to work as an economist. I suppose an economist with clinical background/training would make the "perfect" hospital administrator. In fact, it's why economists have often led public hospitals (e.g. Pradeep Philip, Stephen Duckett). But…
Leadership is always a thankless job because you can never please everyone. So uhh thanks, I like that we have doctors represented in administration and not just MBA types. I'm glad it exists as a speciality.
Agreed. They start seeing patients as numbers and dollar signs. After 10 years away from clinical practice apart from the doctor title they aren’t actual doctors.
It's ironic as one wonders how much your comment and (no doubt) projection can be applied to you and your posting history as a whole. While it's clear you have prejudice towards current/future medical administrators, you never know the OP might be the exception. Show some respect to your colleague next time when you…
This is highly dependent on the Med Admin person tbf. There should be a requirement imo for a minimum amount of time doing hospital medicine. Currently the pathway is such that someone can basically work in the public system for 2 years then do RACMA and then be the DMS with little actual clinical experience working in…
This is a fairly vacuous statement. No one is doing admin to be a traditional bedside doctor, why you feel the need to highlight it is beyond me. With that in mind, some do part time clinical work still in their FTE. If you can't see the need to have medical representation in hospital admin then you are on another…
Downvote me if you must but medical administrators are not doctors in a traditional sense. I think you need to acknowledge that if you make this choice you’re leaving a substantial part of the profession.
They can be. This is important because if doctors give up their seat at the table we will all be exploited to hell by the MBAs and slack jawed careerists.
I think when most people complain about medical admin they are talking about the medical workforce unit who aren't usually doctors. While potentially has its difficulties, most frustrations seem to come from treating JMOs like assets and an employee number rather than people. I've had multiple great interactions with…
Curious - How long have you know you’re a wanker that wasn’t cut out for clinical care?
Wait, medical admins are actual MD/MBBS people?
They are not doctors in a traditional sense. Their job can be done without a medical degree.
The governing bodies of a hospital will feature a mix of doctors and non-doctors (with experience in management) but if you see a title such as “director of clinical services” it’ll often be a FRACMA. The JMO managers and administrators who make your rosters, ignore your emails, refuse your leave and basically treat…
Hard to get a job de novo. Usually done through internal promotion within a health service. But opportunities do pop up (a couple being advertised on the FRACMA job board at the moment). Quite competitive because the jobs are so limited.
People holding the roles of Director of Medical services, Chief Medical Officer, Director of Medicine will often be a FRACMA, though it seems to be more common in NSW and Victoria from my experience.
I have a good friend who did it. He did a few years of surg before swapping out. Did his mba during and just got through exams Needless to say success is based on who you know. Working for private seems awful they apparently really underpay and overwork you eg ramsay. Public is dysfunctional but you do a lot less for…
Compared to procedural medicine? Probably nowhere near as much as you don't really get private practice gigs. But many DMS/EDMS I know are FRACMAs and the role itself tend to by on the higher end of the "strict" payscale. With that being said most FRACMAs I know were also accomplished specialists in other fields who…
It depends, since many medical administrators work clinically too. And many medical administrators take call, just like any other specialist. One recent example (perhaps real, perhaps not): tertiary hospital is at -10 bed capacity, with 20 ambulance ramped and it's the long weekend -- can you please sort out this mess?…
Exactly 9-5 and you leave on time. Also u leave hospital for lunch. And ive seem his office, which is a closed door situation - no one knows if you are in or not. But you do eventually have to answer complaints and put out fires. Eg patient complaint or surgeon complaint, all of which are the usual. Its mostly…
NSW, perhaps it has changed but the handful of people I know who went for RACMA several years ago all got in PGY3 or PGY4
Where are you finding these uncompetitive DMS positions that only require five years of experience? Getting a RACMA training position itself is highly competitive and isn't going to happen for the vast majority of PGY-3 PHOs/SRMOs.
r/ausjdocs comments and posts, hand-curated from the medical-administration collection; scores as at the dump · community view, not policy
Knowledge rows last loaded 13 Sept 2026, encoded by hand from the sources linked on each panel; no AI wrote any of it. Compare specialties · calendar · all guides.