Our latest Specialist Trainee Experience Health Check report has highlighted the need for improvement in the medical education experience for trainees in Australia, despite some encouraging progress.
The AMA’s 2023 Specialist Trainee Experience Health Check report showed the highest grade trainees gave their overall training program experience was a C+ or a “pass”, while no training program received an A grade.
Chair of the AMA Council of Doctors in Training (AMACDT) Dr Sanjay Hettige said specialist medical education and training had improved slightly in some key areas, including payment for un-rostered overtime, but there was still considerable room for improvement.
“Junior doctors are the future of our health workforce, and they must be equipped with the necessary support to excel in the speciality of their choice – but at the moment there is a lot left to be desired in specialist training programs,” Dr Hettige said.
Dr Hettige said receiving quality and timely assessment feedback is an essential component of good learning practices and trainee wellbeing.
“Trainees who are faced with costly and high-stakes examinations expect quality feedback from their examinations.
“However, data from the 2023 Medical Training Survey shows only 38 per cent of trainees felt they received useful feedback about their exam performance, and 43 per cent felt they received feedback in a timely manner, with very little or no improvement on both metrics over the past five years.”
The report also shows Australia continues facing an uphill battle to address the country’s regional health workforce shortages as just 44 per cent of respondents consider a future in rural practice, and only 34 per cent of trainees working in metropolitan areas said they would consider moving to the bush. This pales in comparison with the 78 per cent of rural-based trainees who say they want to stay in rural practice.
