RACP - Australasian faculty of public health

Table of contents

Chapter 5: International Supply

Training Program

The Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM) training program provides trainees with experience in the practice of public health medicine in appropriately supervised and supported environments.

During the course of the three-year full-time equivalent program, trainees acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes of a public health physician by completing, with guidance from regional education coordinators, supervisors, and mentors, rotations through a variety of appropriate public health activities.

A comprehensive list of competencies, which are expected to have been acquired by a graduate of the training program, forms the basis for developing individual learning plans for each year of training.

Trainee Selection

From 2009, the prerequisites for admission to advanced training are:

medical registration;
at least three years of medical experience since graduating, including at least two years of clinical experience, one of which may be the intern year; and
enrolment in, or completion of, a Masters Degree in Public Health, which includes the faculty's core discipline areas.

Doctors interested in applying for admission to the faculty’s training program are required to contact the regional education coordinator for the region in which they wish to train.

Trainee Assessment

Supervisor reports form the basis of on-going assessment in the AFPHM training program. These must be approved by the Regional Committee and signed off by the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee before the trainee can progress to their next year of training.

In the final program assessment (FPA), the panel of examiners assesses the degree to which a trainee has succeeded in acquiring the public health medicine competencies in the course of their training by:

reviewing the trainee's bound volume; and
assessing the trainee’s answers to questions relating to the work documented in their bound volume, and questions covering public health medicine more generally.

Overseas Trained Specialists

Applications from overseas trained public health physicians for specialist recognition in Australia are assessed by the AFPHM via the Australian Medical Council (AMC). Standard AMC application documentation is scrutinised by the faculty and an interview is undertaken to determine the level of comparability in training and experience to that of an Australian-trained public health physician. Applicants whose qualifications and experience are deemed to be partially or substantially comparable to that of Australian-trained physicians will be required to undertake a period of peer reviewed practice and may be required to complete the faculty’s final program assessment. Applicants who successfully complete the assessment process will be eligible to apply for fellowship of the AFPHM.

Accreditation

The Faculty does not accredit training positions; instead it approves individual training programs.

Further Information

www.afphm.racp.edu.au

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