FAQs about the anaesthesia training program

If you have completed all the training requirements of your core unit you will need to complete a core unit review (CUR) with your supervisor of training (SOT). Once your SOT has submitted the CUR in the training portfolio system (TPS), you will need to respond. The TPS will then automatically update you to the next core unit.

Any time spent not in training should be recorded as leave. This includes annual leave, bereavement leave, sick leave, parental leave, study leave, examination leave and industrial action.

You should still record this time as “leave” in the training portfolio system and have this confirmed by your supervisor of training. Any excess leave will not accrue towards the approved vocational training time. If you take more than 12 continuous weeks of leave, you will need to apply for interrupted training.
 

Public holidays are not counted as leave. When a public holiday falls on a day when you would normally be working, it counts as a clinical day, whether or not you were actually required to work that day. 

Time spent completing mandatory courses (for example, the Advanced Life Support course) should be recorded as clinical anaesthesia time in the traiing portfolio system. Time taken to attend non-mandatory courses, such as exam preparation courses should be recorded as leave.

Supervisors of training or departmental scholar role tutors can access and approve all scholar role activities ion the training portfolio system, except the audit activity which will need to be assessed and approved by the departmental scholar role tutor.

FANZCA nominees can help to do assessments and evaluations of scholar role activities for trainees and automatically get continuing professional development points for evaluating scholar role activities.

After you have completed all volume of practice and workplace-based assessments for a specialised study unit (SSU), you must complete an SSU review with your SSU supervisor.

Once the SSU review has been confirmed by your supervisor of training, the SSU will show as completed on your dashboard.

Trainees must complete an Advanced Life Support (ALS) course, or equivalent course, in every core unit, including provisional fellowship training.

Exemptions and equivalent courses are listed below:

After your advanced training core unit review has been submitted, you will enter provisional fellowship training pending. You will still be able to enter time, courses, scholar role meetings, cases and procedures and WBAs, however they will not accrue towards your provisional fellowship training requirements.

Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) training accredited at a College of Intensive Care Medicine training site may count towards your ANZCA training as other clinical time. Prospective approval from the director of professional affairs assessor is required. However it does not meet the requirements of the intensive care specialised unit.

If you want to change your scholar role requirements from option B to option A, you need to complete all pending scholar role activities including the local audit assessed by departmental scholar role tutor.

The duration of extended training mirrors the duration of accredited anaesthesia training, up to a maximum of 104 weeks. The allowable duration for extended training for training sites is:

This must be completed in a unit accredited by the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM) for:

• General training.
• Limited general training.

Please visit the CICM website for more information on their accredited sites. 

The multiple-choice questions (MCQ) are answered in a GPAS sheet.

• Other than your candidate number, do not write any other personal information on the answer sheet.
• Record your answers in pencil only (pencils provided).
• Do not cross out mistakes, carefully and neatly erase any mistakes (erasers provided).
• Candidates wishing to make notes or perform calculations may do so on the question paper during writing time only. No writing, scribbling or marking is permitted during reading time.
• The MCQ question paper is to be returned and is not allowed outside the exam room.

  The short-answer question (SAQ) is written in 15 books, which make a set.

• Each question must be answered in a separate book as per the marking of the question number on the book.
• Ensure that your candidate number is written on the front of each book on the top right hand corner.
• Writing should be in the lined section of the book only. Do not write in the margins, the darkened out areas or the unlined pages.
• Do not leave a blank page once you start writing, if you do, run a line through the page to indicate the answer continues.
• All writing in blue or black pen only.

Payment can be made online via the ANZCA Portal. Once payment has been successful, you will be sent a receipt via email.

Applicants and trainees in Australia may pay via BPAY®. You can obtain ANZCA’s BPAY biller code and your reference number by clicking the link above. If you pay via BPAY, please submit your ongoing acknowledgement of the training agreement via email.

The consequences of non-payment of fees are detailed in the table below:
 

If you will be in part-time training for a continuous period of at least 52 weeks you need to apply for *part-time training*. Following approval, your annual training fee invoice will be amended based on the percentage of full-time equivalent (FTE) rounded to the nearest tenth plus an administration fee. If you will be in part-time training for less than 52 weeks continuously you will need to pay the full annual training fee.

If you will be in interrupted training for a continuous period of at least 13 weeks, you may be eligible for a reduced annual training fee. Please apply prospectively for * interrupted training * if you know which period you will be interrupting your training. Once your application is approved, your invoice will be amended to reflect a pro-rata annual training fee and pro-rata registration maintenance fee based on the months you will be spending in training.

If you plan to interrupt your training during the year but do not yet know the dates, you should pay the full annual training fee. Once your period of interrupted training has been approved, you will receive a refund for the difference.