New Flexibility For Royal Australian College Of General Practitioners Exam Candidates

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 09 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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From January 2009 candidates for The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Fellowship examination will be able to undertake the exam in a sequential way over time.

"We recognise the changing needs of GPs who may need to work part time due to family circumstances and work life balance issues, the learning needs of registrars and the challenges for international medical graduates in gaining the experience required to work in Australia. In light of this, the RACGP Council has moved to implement increased flexibility in exam processes," said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President and GP in Northern NSW.

All candidates will undertake the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and then, on successful completion, will be able to move on to the Clinical segment as they feel ready. Candidates will continue to have the opportunity to sit the AKT and Key Feature Problems (KFP) on the same day if they wish and if they meet KFP eligibility requirements.

Candidates will have up to three years to complete all three segments successfully and candidates will be able to pay for individual segments as they go, instead of the current single fee approach.

This will have many benefits for candidates both educationally and financially.

After each segment, candidates will be provided with formal feedback on their performance to better focus their future study. Candidates will be able to plan their progress through the assessment process more effectively, while matching their study with the feedback they receive. This will allow candidates to optimally use the time between examination segments to prepare for the next stage. This will be of particular benefit to busy GPs progressing through the practice eligible route.

Registrars will also have increased flexibility. Some registrars, with the support of their medical educators, will be able to undertake the AKT after 6 active units of training (currently registrars must have completed 8 units). This will be followed by the KFP and clinical segments after a minimum of 8 units of active training.

Further information will be appearing next week on the RACGP website: http://www.racgp.org.au/exam.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP has the largest general practitioner membership of any medical organisation in Australia and represents the majority of Australia's general practitioners.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

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