Medical Training Review Panel: thirteenth report

Medical College Examinations

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This section provides information on the number of vocational trainees who sat college examinations in 2008 and the number of trainees who successfully passed. The data relate to Australian trainees sitting the college or faculty examinations. Some colleges, however, also examine overseas medical practitioners wishing to practise in Australia and these numbers have been included in some tables.

Current Data

Table 4.23 presents the outcomes of final examinations in 2008. This highlights the considerable variation in the pass rates across medical specialties and even for different examinations required by colleges for a particular specialty. These differences are due, at least in part, to differing assessment processes. Further information on the requirements of each college is provided under the heading 'Training Assessment' in Appendix B.

Table 4.23: Vocational trainees sitting a final or fellowship examination: Number and proportion passing by medical specialty, 2008.

Medical specialty	Examination	Trainees sitting	Trainees passing	Proportion passing (%)
Anaesthesia	Fellowship	228	197	86.0
Pain medicine	Fellowship	20	14	70.0
Dermatology(a)	Fellowship Written	13	12	92.3
	Fellowship Clinical	12	11	91.6
Emergency medicine(b)		114	80	70.2
General practice(c)(d)	RACGP Fellowship Exam	559	510	91.2
	ACRRM Fellowship Exam	50	32	64.0
Intensive care	General Fellowship exam	117	67	57.3
	Paediatric Fellowship exam	5	4	80.0
Medical administration	Oral Examination	12	10	83.3
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	Written	88	50	56.8
	Oral	67	63	94.0
Occupational and Environmental medicine	Written	19	12	63.2
	Practical	15	10	66.7
Opthalmology	RANZCO Advanced Clinical Exam (RACE)	35	28	80.0
Pathology	Part Two Examinations	106	96	90.6
Public health medicine	Final Program Assessment	15	12	80.0
Radiation oncology	Part Two Written and Clinical Vivas	27	21	77.7
Radiodiagnosis	Part Two FRANZCR Examination Written and Vivas	118	65	55.1
Rehabilitation medicine	Written	19	15	78.9
	Clinical	20	13	65.0
Surgery	Fellowship	254	199	78.3
Total(e)(f)		3,414	2,599	76.1

(a) Candidates sitting the fellowship exam cannot proceed to the clinical component without having first passed the written component.
(b) Each exam sitting is separate and must be passed without reference to any previous attempts.
(c) Trainees proceeding through the AGPT program only.
(d) ACRRM assessment process does not include a final exam but rather progressive assessment, including five different assessment items across the totality of the training program.
(e) RANZCP does not have a fellowship exam.
(f) RACP (Adult Medicine and Paediatrics) does not have a fellowship exam. Trainees sit the Basic Physician Training exam.

Source: Medical colleges and GPET

Table 4.24 presents the examination outcomes for the additional examinations that are required as part of some college training programs. The data presented in this table and Table 4.25 is for Australian trainees only.

Table 4.24: Vocational trainees undertaking additional examinations: Number and proportion passing by medical specialty, 2008

Medical specialty	Examination	Timeheld	Trainees sitting	Trainees passing	Proportion passing (%)
Adult medicine(a)	Written		603	422	70.0
	Clinical		515	391	75.9
Anaesthesia(b)	Part One Pharmacology	Feb/April &	Writtens 266	177
		July/Sept	Orals 214
	Physiology		Writtens 141	173	60.0
			Orals 202
Dermatology	Clinical sciences	May & Nov	23	23	100.0
	Pharmacology	May & Nov	25	25	100.0
Emergency medicine(c)	Primary - Anatomy	April & Sept	268	186	69.4
	Primary - Pathology	April & Sept	300	243	81.0
	Primary- Physiology	April & Sept	301	223	74.1
	Primary - Pharmacology	April & Sept	309	237	76.7
Intensive care	Part One	April & Nov	6	4	66.7
Ophthalmology	Ophthalmic Sciences(d)	2	25	24	96.0
	Ophthalmic Basic	2	31	30	97.0
	Competencies and Knowledge (OBCK)
	Advanced Pathology	2	31	29	94.0
Paediatrics	Written		209	143	68.4
	Clinical		174	130	74.7
Pathology	Basic pathology sciences		125	109	87.2
	Part One		107	74	69.2
Psychiatry: Basic training	Case Histories	4	255	197	77.3
	Written	2	202	145	71.8
	Clinical	2	165	110	66.7
Public health medicine	Part One	October	2	1	50.0
Radiation oncology	Part One		39	24	61.5
Radiodiagnosis	Part One	Twice yearly	100	82	82.0
Surgery	Basic Sciences	2	52	39	75.0
	Clinical Exam	2	177	164	92.7
	Surgical Science Exam (Generic)	2	104	96	92.3
	Surgical Science (Specialty Specific)	2	72	40	55.6

(a) Candidates must pass the Written Examination prior to sitting the Clinical Examination. Candidates are required to successfully complete the Clinical Examination within a period of 59 months (five years) of passing the Written Examination. Candidates who do not pass the Clinical Examination within this period must again undertake and pass the Written Examination.
(b) Candidates may sit one or both subjects, but do not pass the Primary Examination until both subjects are successfully completed.
(c) For the ACEM Primary Exam, candidates may attempt subjects not yet passed in any order at any examination until all subjects have been cumulatively passed.
(d) This represents overall passes in eight ophthalmic sciences subjects.

Source: Medical colleges and GPET

Trends

Table 4.25 presents details of the trend in college final examination outcomes over the period 2004–2008. This highlights the considerable variation in the pass rates across years for some medical specialties. This data should be interpreted cautiously, due to the various college training requirements and changes to these across the years and also due to relatively small numbers for some specialties.

Table 4.25 Proportion of vocational trainees sitting a final or fellowship examination who passed by medical speciality, 2004-2008

Medical specialty	Examination	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Proportion passing (%)
Adult medicine
	Written	72.9	70.4	72.7	67.1	..
	Clinical	63.3	70.9	73.7	73.2	..
Anaesthesia		78.0	85.0	86.3	86.0	86.0
Pain medicine		..	79.2	70.0	100.0	70.0
Dermatology		(a)85.7	(a)68.4	..	..	..
	Written	..	..	78.3	79.2	92.3
	Clinical	..	..	77.8	100.0	91.6
Emergency medicine		79.8	65.2	72.2	69.4	70.2
General practice		81.5	85.4	85.3	88.2	91.2
Intensive care		(a)60.4	(a)40.5	(a)66.2	..	..
	General	..	..	..	61.7	57.0
	Paediatric	..	..	..	60.0	80.0
Medical administration		93.8	57.1	64.3	73.3	83.3
Obstetrics and Gynaecology
	Written	76.3	55.3	65.2	63.9	56.8
	Oral	93.0	71.4	91.1	62.1	94.0
Occupational and Environmental medicine
	Written	57.1	40.9	50.0	40.7	63.2
	Oral	83.3	47.4	..	..	..
	Practical	..	..	67.9	45.5	66.7
Ophthalmology
	Written	97.0	77.0	..	..	..
	Advanced pathology	97.0	76.9	..	..	..
	Clinical	90.5	52.9	100.0	82.8	80.0
Paediatrics
	Written	66.9	68.2	69.7	67.3	..
	Clinical	57.4	69.7	74.7	70.0	..
Pathology		100.0	85.7	98.5	92.9	90.6
Psychiatry		71.0	47.2	..	..	..
Public health medicine		80.0	50.0	78.9	50.0	80.0
Radiation oncology		83.3	74.1	77.3	78.9	77.7
Radiodiagnosis		61.0	71.2	58.4	51.3	55.1
Rehabilitation medicine		68.6	52.5	..	..	..
	Written	..	..	75.8	67.7	78.9
	Clinical	..	..	..	79.1	65.0
	Oral	..	..	37.5	..	..
Surgery		78.4	87.1	82.4	80.7	78.3

(a) Final or fellowships exam only.

Source: Medical colleges and GPET

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