How to Become an Anaesthetist in Australia: Training Pathway

Prerequisites

Prevocational training: 104 weeks full-time equivalent working as a doctor after your medical degree, by the start of training, at least 52 of them outside anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine, with up to 12 weeks of leave
Registration: medical registration to practise where you train
Training position: a contract of at least 26 weeks in a row at an ANZCA-accredited training site, confirmed by its supervisor of training or the rotational supervisor
College registration: an application to ANZCA, accepted once you have 52 weeks of prevocational training and no conditions on your practice, then registration as a trainee once your position is confirmed

Applications

When to apply

Joining ANZCA and getting a training position are two separate steps. Your application to ANZCA can go in from the end of postgraduate year 1, and training starts in postgraduate year 3 at the earliest.

Selection format

Written application
CV
Referee report
Interview
Personal statement

Competition

Very high

ANZCA accredits whole departments rather than individual posts. Each hospital decides how many trainees it appoints.

Program structure

General hospital training
2 years
After medical school, before anaesthesia training
Anaesthesia training
5 years
At least, full time, in four core units
Fellowship
Year 5
FANZCA, at the end of provisional fellowship training

Throughout training

Core units: 4; Introductory, basic, advanced and provisional fellowship training, in that order
In Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand: 156 weeks; At least, of your training by Fellowship
One training site: 208 weeks; At most at any one site, outside extended training

Rules and conditions

Introductory training: the first 26 weeks, learning to anaesthetise healthy patients for low-risk surgery safely, with a supervisor beside you until its assessments are passed
Basic training: the next 78 weeks, anaesthetising patients of moderate complexity with your supervisor at a distance, and passing the primary examination
Advanced training: 104 weeks, anaesthetising patients with significant illness for complex procedures with your supervisor at a distance, and passing the final examination
Provisional fellowship training: the final 52 weeks, working at consultant level under a study plan approved in advance
Rotations: every accredited site belongs to a rotation, a group of sites that together cover the whole program, overseen by a rotational supervisor
Clinical fundamentals: general anaesthesia and sedation, airway management, regional and local anaesthesia, perioperative medicine, pain medicine, resuscitation, trauma and crisis management, and safety and quality
Specialised study units: cardiac, general surgical, head and neck, neurosurgical, obstetric, ophthalmic, orthopaedic, paediatric, plastic and burns, thoracic and vascular anaesthesia, and intensive care
Other clinical time: up to 38 weeks by the end of advanced training, 19 of them by the end of basic training, for work outside clinical anaesthesia such as intensive care, retrieval and pain clinics
One area: up to 13 weeks spent only in pain, retrieval or perioperative medicine counts as clinical anaesthesia time in basic and advanced training
Retrieval and diving medicine: up to 26 weeks of each in basic and advanced training, approved in advance

Stage by stage

Stage 1 of 4

Introductory training

26 weeks (maximum 52 weeks)

The first 26 weeks, learning to anaesthetise healthy patients for low-risk surgery safely.

Training time

Registration
Register with ANZCA within 4 weeks of starting your position, since earlier time is not counted
Clinical anaesthesia
22 weeks at least, in 26 weeks of continuous training

Courses

Advanced life support
One course, which may fall in the 52 weeks before the stage ends
Can't intubate, can't oxygenate
One course in managing a blocked airway, including front-of-neck access

Assessments

Multiple choice question assessment
Passed by week 16
Specified emergency scenarios
Usually in the last weeks of the stage
Workplace-based assessments and multi-source feedback
The introductory training minimums
Core unit review
At the end, to move to basic training

Dual training

Dual training with

Intensive Care Medicine

Both Fellowships: 7.5 years; For FANZCA and FCICM
Primary examination: One; ANZCA's or CICM's, with a gap assessment in the other college's material

What it is: The Dual Training Recognition Process with the College of Intensive Care Medicine. It is not a separate program. You are selected into and enrolled in both, and each college recognises overlapping training.
To apply: Register through both colleges once you are enrolled in both.
What counts: Perioperative and pain medicine, paediatric training, some ANZCA assessments, and the Effective Management of Anaesthetic Crises course for the intensive care advanced airway requirement.
Requirements: Dedicated intensive care training, its specialty rotations and its assessments.
Fellowship: A combined final year is possible with both colleges' approval.

Selection criteria

Score your portfolio

Clinical experience

Hospital experience: your terms and rotations. Prior anaesthesia experience is not essential

Academic achievement

Academic record: your academic history, and the study that shows a commitment to ongoing medical education

Curriculum vitae

Part of the written application, read against the network's selection criteria. Score yours

Personal statement

A statement addressing the network's selection criteria, part of the written application

Referees

At least two, whose reports address the selection criteria and are read with your interview to rank you

Interview

Selection interview: run by the network or scheme, whose selection committee includes an ANZCA supervisor of training or education officer, asking only about the advertised selection criteria
- Domains: aptitude for anaesthesia and clinical reasoning, communication, teamwork and managing conflict, organising your time and coping with stress, commitment to city, rural and Indigenous patients, and integrity and ethics

Scoring

Feedback: if you are not appointed, the employer may tell you whether you were suitable with no post free, not yet suitable, or unlikely to become suitable. You can appeal under the employer's own policy

Application process

1. Apply for a training position through your state's selection, with a written application of a curriculum vitae and a statement addressing the selection criteria, and referees. ANZCA does not appoint trainees. In Aotearoa New Zealand, contact the rotational supervisor of the Northern, Midland, Central or Southern scheme, who says when and which hospitals are recruiting
2. The selection committee draws up a shortlist
3. The selection committee interviews the shortlisted applicants
4. The selection committee ranks applicants with their referee reports, and the employer appoints. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the four schemes coordinate their trainees' placements each year at one national meeting
5. Apply to ANZCA with the application form if you have not already, and register as a trainee with the registration form once your position is confirmed

Practise this interview with each station timed. Interview practice

Entry tips

Postgraduate years 1 and 2

Do an anaesthesia term as a resident medical officer, since that is where you meet the anaesthetists who mentor you, bring you into audits and research, and can referee your work.

Research

Do an audit in an anaesthesia department with a written report, and present it at a departmental or state meeting, since every network looks for an understanding of audit and research.

Courses

Ask to join your region's one-day Introduction to anaesthesia training, which takes junior doctors considering anaesthesia where it has room, since you meet the registrars and provisional fellows who run it and learn how the program and primary examination work.

Referees

Work closely with the consultant anaesthetists who supervise your anaesthesia term, since the schemes want referees from your most recent posts who can speak to your clinical and professional work.

Prior learning

If you work in an ANZCA-accredited department before you register as a trainee, apply for recognition of prior learning once you register, since it can credit up to 13 weeks of introductory and 39 weeks of basic training. Training toward the British, Irish, Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysian anaesthesia Fellowship can credit more, and the primary examination.

What the college has changed

2027-01
Training sites are accredited against the common standards of the Australian Medical Council.
2026-01
The Early Management of Severe Trauma course became Advanced Trauma Life Support.
2025-02
The patient clinical interaction assessment became a requirement for trainees entering advanced training.

Workforce

Fellows in Australia

5,908

At 31 December 2025

Source: Australian Government Department of Health. Medical Education and Training (2025), Chapter 4: Fellows, College Fellows by state, as at 31 December 2025.

Training posts

None available.

Available Anaesthesia training positions

Show these kinds of site

Select a region to see the hospitals inside it.

Official resources

Official links

Intensive Care Medicine: How to become an intensivist in AustraliaCICM

Requirements, application windows and criteria change every year. Verify with ANZCA before making career decisions. Report an error on this page.

Prerequisites

Applications

When to apply

Selection format

Competition

Program structure

Training time

Courses

Assessments

Training time

Examinations

Courses

Assessments

Projects

Training time

Examinations

Courses

Assessments

Projects

Training time

Courses

Assessments

Projects

Dual training

Intensive Care Medicine

Pain Medicine

Selection criteria

Clinical experience

Academic achievement

Curriculum vitae

Personal statement

Referees

Interview

Scoring

Application process

Entry tips

What the college has changed

Workforce

Training posts

Available Anaesthesia training positions

Official resources

Official links

Related specialties