Medical Training Review Panel 19th Report

2012 Fellowship Program

In January 2013, the 2012 Fellowship program started in Australia with trainees entering Stage 1. The 2012 Fellowship program is based around the CanMEDs model and involves a curriculum that is designed around Fellowship competencies, learning outcomes, and developmental descriptors. The 2012 Fellowship program is completed across three stages, Stage 1 (min 12 months FTE), Stage 2 (min 24 months FTE), and Stage 3 (min 24 months FTE). During each stage, trainees complete rotations based around approved areas of practice including adult psychiatry, child/adolescent psychiatry, and consultation liaison psychiatry. Elective rotations in psychiatry of old age, addiction, psychotherapies, forensic psychiatry, rural psychiatry, or indigenous (either Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or Māori) psychiatry can also be completed.

The 2012 Fellowship program introduced Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and Workplace-based Assessments (WBAs). For each stage, trainees must complete a number of mandatory EPAs. WBAs are used to inform the completion of the EPAs and to provide feedback for trainees’ developmental trajectory.

A revised assessment structure has been introduced with the First Presentation Case History being replaced with a Scholarly Project. The written examination has been separated into the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) paper and the Essay paper. Trainees must pass both papers separately. The Psychological Methods case history has been modified to become the Psychotherapy Written Case (PWC), including a different format and revised requirements. The clinical examination structure for the 2012 Fellowship Program comprises the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Transition of 2003 trainees to the 2012 program will be conducted from 2016 onwards.