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Clinical Radiology
Volume 12 No 3 I June 2016 39
Chief Censor in
Clinical Radiology
I am pleased to inform you that the
Board of Directors has approved the plan
and the budget to roll out the proposed
improvements based on the ACER/
Prideaux review and recommendations.
A Task Force chaired by President Dr
Greg Slater and comprising of Chief
Censors, the CEO and Head of Specialty
Training Unit has been set up to oversee
the implementation of this work. The
Task Force will determine priorities
for action and plan for immediate and
longer-term change. There will be
regular bulletins to Fellows and trainees
to update on the progress of this major
work being undertaken by the College
in the Specialty Training Unit since the
implementation of the new curriculum.
The 2016 Series 1 examinations are
taking place as I write this article.
I would like to extend a thank you to all
the examiners for their hard work and
assistance before, during and after the
examinations. The examinations were
well supported by the team from the
College. Dr Jacob Pearce and Mr Daniel
Urbach from the Australian Council for
Educational Research also provided
assistance by facilitating workshops and
will continue to do so throughout 2016.
Fellowship
For our Year 4 and Year 5 trainees, there
continues to be some confusion in
regards to terminology used at various
sites. Since 2009/2010 the Advanced
Training Position has no longer existed.
A Fellowship is considered to be a
period of subspecialty advance training
undertaken once the person has become
a Fellow of the College. A Fellowship
position within Australia, New Zealand
or overseas cannot be undertaken by
a trainee, unless they have completed
the five-year clinical radiology training
program and have been awarded the
FRANZCR.
System Focused Rotations
System Focused Rotations (SFRs) have
been a requirement of the Clinical
Radiology (Radiodiagnosis) Curriculum
since its implementation in January 2010
(Australia and Singapore) and December
2009 (New Zealand). Registrars will spend
a minimum of 4–6 sessions per week
(on average) training in a designated
‘system’.
Year 4 trainees should be rostered for
four lots of three-month rotations and
in Year 5 for either four lots of three-
month rotations or two lots of six-month
rotations.
A System Focused Rotation is NOT
intended to be a subspecialty rotation.
The intention is that more senior trainees
get at least part of the rostered clinical
week (not all) attached to specific
specialists that report predominantly (not
all) in one system or area of radiology.
The rest of the rostered week is intended
for general clinical work, on-call duties,
learning activities and other training/
service requirements. Please contact
Sandra McDonald, Manager, Training
and Education at the College on sandra.
if you have
any questions. For more information see
Implementing System-Focused Rotations
on the College website .
au/component/docman/?task=doc_
download&gid=1961
Director of Training Workshop
The Director of Training (DoT) workshop
was held on 6 May 2016 in Melbourne
and was well attended. Dr Meredith
Thomas, Chair Curriculum Assessment
Committee updated the attendees
on some of the recent additions to
the experiential requirements. A very
interactive and informative session was
conducted by a team from the largest
medical defense organisation, Avant.
Their main emphasis was on how to
manage trainees requiring extra support
during the training program. Later in
the afternoon A/Prof Nick Stephenson,
Chair Clinical Radiology Workforce
Committee, facilitated a discussion panel
which focused on rural and regional
workforce, recognition of maldistribution
of specialists and how regional health
delivery differs from city-based practices
and hospitals. Subsequent group
discussions highlighted how training
might be different, understanding the
challenges and opportunities for trainees
working in regional areas and discussion
of strategies that could be adopted to
achieve suitable outcomes.
The next DoT workshop is planned
during the New Zealand Branch Annual
Scientific Meeting (ASM) in August 2016
with another to be held at the College
Annual Scientific Meeting on the Gold
Coast on 12 October 2016. I would
encourage as many DoTs to attend, as
A/Prof Dinesh Varma