Compulsory Requirements

General Requirements

Registrars in the general and rural pathways are required to satisfactorily complete three years of training to qualify for the FRACGP qualification. Registrars enrolled for the FACRRM qualification are required to complete four years of training. Registrars may also choose to work towards the award of the RACGP Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice (FARGP).

Successful applicants will be expected to commence active training at the beginning of the training year or, in exceptional circumstances, within three months.

Registrars are required to participate in a range of educational activities and regularly receive feedback on their progress. More information about the college curricula is available on both the RACGP and ACRRM websites.

Required area of need training

All registrars are required to undertake training in an area of need. 

Registrars enrolled in the General Pathway must complete at least 12 months of their GP terms in an area of medical need. New rules for this have been anounced and will come into effect from January 2011.

From January 2011 all GP terms in this region satisfy this 'area of medical need' requirement - so this requirement will automatically be met by undertaking your training in this region.

The full new General Pathway rules are that the 12 month requirement can be met by a combination of:
- rural (can meet up to 12 months of the requirement) – this is defined as RA 2 to 5
- non-capital city RA 1 (can now meet up to 12 months of the requirement) – this includes Newcastle, Maitland and most of Lake Macquarie
- outer metro (can meet up to 12 months of the requirement) – this includes Central Coast
- inner metro capital city Aboriginal Medical Services (can meet up to 6 months of the requirement)
(NB AMS posts in rural/non-capital city RA1/outer-metro can meet up to 12 months of the requirement as per their geographical location).
 

Rural Pathway registrars are required to undertake all of their GP terms in a rural area (RA 2-5).

Mandatory hospital experience

During hospital training there are rotations and experiences that are considered to be mandatory preparation for the Australian General Practice Training program. The following summary provides a guide for applicants but it is recommended that you refer to the Policy on Compulsory Components section of the AGPT website for more information. 

Medicine

Preferably general medicine but, realising that this is no longer available as such in some hospitals, a rotation that offers broad medical experience is required.

Surgery

General surgery is preferred, if available, but a surgical rotation that covers the principles of basic surgical care would need to be undertaken if general surgery is unavailable.

Accident and Emergency

At least one ED term is required.

Paediatrics

The rotation in paediatrics must be undertaken in an approved post in a hospital as a paediatrics term, a paediatric ED term, or two general ED terms that include a high proportion of paediatric emergency attendances with appropriate supervision from paediatricians and/or emergency physicians or appropriately experienced general practitioners. This mandatory requirement must be satisfactorily completed before GP Term 1 can be undertaken.

In addition to these rotations, GP registrars must obtain hospital experience in at least three other areas.

Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is used in two ways in the AGPT program. Through recognising relevant experience, it may reduce registrars' overall time in AGPT or allow registrars to substitute part of their training requirements with educational experiences that develop existing skills or new skills. General Practice Training - Valley to Coast can provide further information about how to apply for RPL, which must be applied for in the first six months of training.

RPL may be approved for all, or part, of the requirements of the post-intern hospital year of training in Australia.

Adapted from the AGPT 2009 Handbook