Information on doing post graduation in Australia

[Bhanu Geddam]

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Hi,

I have been going through all the postings on this forum and thank you everyone for providing such a valuable information. I was wondering if someone could please help me out by answering my below queries.

I have done my MBBS from a reputed institute in India and also doing my 1st year MS (ENT) here but i recently got engaged and my fiance is an Australian Citizen. It will take me 2.5 years more to complete my course and meanwhile it will be hard toil over our relationship as we will be getting married soon. So i was just wondering if i do discontinue my course here under unavoidable circumstances will i be able to do a MS or a fellowship in any surgical branch or atleast MD. By the time i get married i will have have 1 year post graduate surgical experience and was wondering if that would be of any advantage there. Can you please guide me on which pathway to take. i was thinking of doing MS from Uni of Sydney and then apply for fellowship hopefully that would give me a heads up regarding the points.i know its tough to get to a surgical branch in Australia but it was the same case here in India too.I hope i will put more efforts into it and that will yield the fruit.

Please if you have any other suggestions or thoughts please let me know so that i can prepare myself and take correct decision.

Thank you

 

[Ezekiel20]

Here's a few pointers regarding your post:

Master of Surgery in Australia (at least in Sydney University) is a course-work based degree (with some exceptions), with classes held in the evenings once a week, with assignments/exams etc. It is not a degree with full-time contact hours, and is often taken by registrars/fellows who have work commitments during the day. Applications are either closed or closing very soon for this year.

You cannot simply 'apply for fellowship' with 1 year of post-graduate experience. In surgery, fellowship is undertaken upon completion of surgical training which usually takes 6 years on top of internship (1 year) and residency (1 or more years). For example, one might do a 2-year colorectal surgery followship in order to sub-specialise in that field, after completing surgical training and becoming qualifeid as a surgeon by the College of Surgeons.

If you aren't a qualified specialist from your country, you will have to go through the AMC accreditation process before working as an intern/resident and then apply for surgical training. On rare occasions, prior training overseas is recognised, and you can bypass the internship/residency stage and work as a surgical registrar.



Note: in case you're confused by the terminology,

resident = someone who is past internship but not yet on a training programme, instead doing rotations in surgery, medicine, emergency etc

registrar = someone who is a trainee in a specialty training programme, i.e. a neurosurgical registrar, medical registrar etc.

 

[redshifteffect]

don't forget you can be also be an unaccredited registrar, ie. doing a job at the registrar level, but not in an accredited position, or a GP-hospital registrar, someone who is in the GP training program, but working as a hospital registrar for advanced skills training.

You should also look at area of need positions (though those will probably be phased out by the time you're done) because if the relevant college (in this case the surgeons) recognise your training you may be able to not only by pass the AMC exam but work directly as a consultant. They may have some experience that they require you to gain in order to be a full member of their college, but I've seen this pathway used by overseas trained doctors in order to cut down the number of exams they have to write. Just keep in mind that this will most likely mean living/working in a rural area.

 

[Bhanu Geddam]

Thanks for the info redshifteffect and Ezekiel20. So based on your experience and interaction with the OTD's would you suggest me to complete my course i.e. MS (ENT) here in India and then apply for recognition in Australia or discontinue my course and see to that i work hard to get into some sugical branch in Australia by doing fellowship etc eventhough it might take 6 + years. Can you please suggest which options has the most pros.