Troubleshooting Crisis management Trauma management Critical incident/debrief Inadequate resources New hospital Professional conflict Bullying and harassment Impaired colleague Notifiable conduct Trainee with difficulty Formal complaint Personal health Support networks
A GENERAL APPROACH TO PREPARATION
General comments
Plan your study schedule ahead of time to match the timeframe you have available (ideally 12 months)
Try to match your local tutorial timetable and your rotations where possible
Plan ahead for interruptions (breaks, ‘catch-up’ weeks, job applications) and enough time for revision
Practice answering SAQs alongside covering the curriculum content throughout the year
When revising a section of the curriculum, start by covering topics/curriculum points that have been previously examined in the SAQs as the priority for each topic – these are heavily repeated areas
If you have time remaining out of the time allotted for the section, any remaining curriculum points can be covered
Practice answering MCQs throughout the year, but focus on moving them to short-term memory in the last couple of months
Anaesthesia viva preparation can be left until after the written with enough time to develop an adequate technique
The one year study plan
The following is a rough guide as to how much time to spend on each theme within the ANZCA curriculum in your preparation, if a roughly 12-month study schedule is planned
Break weeks - 2 weeks
'Catch up' weeks - 3 weeks
Airway management - 2 weeks
General anaesthesia/sedation - 1 week
Regional anaesthesia - 3 weeks
Resuscitation/trauma/crisis management - 5 weeks
Pain medicine - 2 weeks
Perioperative medicine - 5 weeks
Intensive care medicine - 1 week
Safety & quality 1 week
Professionalism 2 weeks
Cardiac, interventional cardiology - 1 week
General surgery, urology, gynaecology, endoscopy - 1 week
H&N, ENT, dental, ECT - 1 week
Neurosurgery, neuroradiology - 1 week
Obstetrics - 2 weeks
Ophthalmology - 1 week
Orthopaedics - 1 week
Paediatrics - 2 weeks
Plastics, reconstructive, burns - 1 week
Thoracics - 1 week
Vascular, interventional radiology - 2 weeks
Fellowship applications - 1 week
Written revision, MCQs & medical viva preparation - 6 weeks