News

RACS Education Update

During 2009, the College continued to develop the Surgical Education and Training (SET) program, and provide information and support to Trainees and Supervisors.

2009 Appointments to SET

In 2009, the College appointed 277 doctors to the SET programs of the nine specialties.  Nineteen of these doctors elected to defer commencement of training.  Twenty-five of the appointees were current SET trainees who transferred through competitive selection to another specialty.   

2010 Selection Registration

Anyone intending to apply for selection in 2010 must register his/her intention via the College website.  Registration opens on January 13 and closes on at 5PM AEDT February 19. At the time of registration doctors must be in Post Graduate Year 2 or beyond, and meet the generic eligibility requirements.

A registration fee is payable by any doctor who is not a current trainee in the BST or SET programs or a Fellow of the College. IMGs who have been recommended to apply to SET must pay the registration fee.

The fee payable is $AU407 (inc. GST) for doctors residing in Australia and $NZ478.13 (inc. GST) for doctors residing in New Zealand. 

No late registrations will be accepted.  

SET Selection Requirements

The generic eligibility criteria for selection to the SET program are:

permanent residency or citizenship of Australia or New Zealand at the time of registration

General (unconditional) registration in Australia or General scope or restricted general scope registration in the relevant specialty in New Zealand

Doctors who are assessed as satisfying the generic requirements will be advised by email and will be eligible to lodge an application for selection between March 12 and April 6, 2010. 

The specialty specific selection criteria, which were approved by Council in October 2009, are available on the College website.  Doctors who lodge an application will be assessed against the minimum eligibility criteria, in accordance with the SET Selection to Surgical Education and training Policy.

2010 SET Training Invoices

Invoices for the 2010 training year will be mailed by the College in early December.  Trainees must either pay the invoice in full or nominate for instalment payment no later that 15 January, 2010.

The full-time training fees for 2010 are:

• Australian resident trainees $AU5,200 (exc. GST)
• New Zealand resident trainees $NZ6,693.75 (inc. GST)

The Administration Fee, payable by trainees not in active clinical training, is $AU720.50 (inc. GST) and $NZ843.75 (inc. GST). 

Skills Courses

All SET trainees are required to complete the skills courses run by the College: these include the ASSET, CCrISP, CLEAR and EMST courses.  For information about each specialty’s skills course requirements, please visit the Skills Training page, the link for which can be found below. 

Allocation of 2010 skills course places is currently underway. Preference is given to trainees who are already registered with the wait-list, to ensure that each of the courses is completed during the appropriate year of training (i.e. SET 1 or SET 2). Trainees will be notified of their course allocations by mid December 2009.

If you are at (or beyond) the required level of training and have not been allocated a course place, please contact the appropriate course administrator(s). For any trainee who has not already done so, it is imperative that you register immediately for the courses you are required to complete.  Registration details are available on the Skills Training page of the College website.

Examination Dates for 2010

Dates and venues have been set for all of the 2010 examinations. 

For more information about the Surgical Sciences – Generic and Specialty Specific Surgical Science Exams, and for the Clinical Exams, please check the RACS website.

 For more information about the Fellowship Examinations, please check the RACS website.

Electronic Logbooks

The College has developed a Web-based Logbook application with implementation scheduled for January 2010.  The benefits of the Web-based Logbook to the specialties are:

• Electronic record of trainee operative and non-operative experiences
• Electronic verification by surgical supervisors
•  Supervisor maintains an electronic logbook
•  Ability for  trainee to track training requirements, prior to assessment periods
•  Enables full capture of procedure data for trainees (including cross-specialty capture during early training period)
•  Comprehensive reporting capabilities (Specialty-specific, summary, regional, training post etc)

For further information, please check the RACS website.

Selection Interviewer Training

In April 2009, the College held a Selection Workshop facilitated by Professor Fiona Patterson, Professor of Organisational Psychology at City University, London.  Following this workshop the College revised the existing Interviewer Course.  From 2010 a new Selection Interviewer Course will be available to Fellows.  On completion of the courseparticipants will be able to:

• Understand the changes to the College selection interview process
• Understand how the attributes of a surgeon are used in selection
• Observe, record and score candidate responses more objectively
• Better assess the attributes that can indicate a candidate’s suitability for surgical training

Details of workshop dates for 2010 will be published soon.

SAT SET

Are you a SET supervisor or trainer? Have you attended the Supervisors and Trainers for SET (SAT SET) Course? Over 1,000 Fellows, including 50% of SET supervisors, have now attended this free three hour course.

Supervisors and trainers play a pivotal role in assessing of trainees so it is vital that they are able to effectively use competency-based assessment tools such as the Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini CEX) and Directly Observed Procedural Skills (DOPS).  This course provides practise in the use of these tools as well as a forum to discuss training issues and explore strategies for better managing trainee performance. It is also your chance to discuss the legal issues that relate to training.

For more information about 2010 courses please check the RACS website.

Policy Development

The College continues to develop new policies and refine existing ones to ensure that the SET program is administered correctly, fairly and consistently, with defined standards for selection and assessment.