Neurosurgery

Training units

3

At least, across the program

In one unit

2 years

At most, full-time equivalent

Time limit

9 years

To finish the program, from the start of training

Leave

4 weeks

At most in each 3-month clinical term, all kinds counted together

• Training has three levels. Basic is your first one to two years, building the foundations. Intermediate is at least 3 years, with more complex cases and more responsibility. Advanced is at least the final year, operating as primary surgeon
• A clinical term is about 3 months in one accredited post. A training unit is one accredited hospital, or one network of hospitals
• The 9 years run from your first day of training. Time away for parental or carer responsibilities or your health is not counted, and time away for any other reason is. Training ends if a requirement is unfinished at the limit
• The 4 weeks covers annual, personal, compassionate, parental, study, conference and carer's leave, with your employer's approval. A term with more leave is not assessed and does not count toward training time

• Accredited posts60 in 32 training settings, 55 of them in 28 settings in Australia and 5 in 4 settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. A setting is one hospital, or a network of hospitals around a main one
• CaseloadEach post needs 300 major neurosurgical operations a year in its setting, or 200 for a paediatric post
• NetworksYou spend at least three quarters of each rotation at the main hospital, unless the network includes a rural or paediatric unit. At most a quarter is in hospitals without an emergency department
• Your employerThe main hospital of the post you are allocated employs you, and can decline to
• Aotearoa New Zealand5 accredited posts: Auckland City Hospital, with Starship Children's Hospital, 2, and Christchurch, Waikato and Wellington hospitals, 1 each

What every accredited neurosurgery post must give you each week

Operating lists

3 or more

Half-day lists a week, kept for you

Clinics

1 to 4

Supervised clinics a week

Ward rounds

3 or more

Consultant ward rounds a week, with daily rounds of your own patients after surgery

On call

1 in 7 to 1 in 3

Days on the emergency roster

• Rosters: provisional rosters are released at least 3 months ahead, and your unit records your hours and on-call frequency to manage fatigue

Consultants

3

At least, supervising you in each rotation

Operating lists

All cases

With a supervising consultant allocated

Fellowship Examination

Year 5

At the earliest, in Advanced training. The final examination, in written papers then a clinical and viva part

Practice Examination

Year 4

From your fourth year of training, each year until you pass the Fellowship Examination

• The Fellowship Examination is set by the RACSRoyal Australasian College of Surgeons Court of Examiners in Neurosurgery, at the standard of a consultant in the first year of practice. It runs twice a year: written papers in March or August, then the clinical and viva part in May or in September to October
• The Practice Examination is a 120-minute written paper of two essays and a short answer question, from past Fellowship papers. It is usually held at a training seminar, has no pass mark, and your answers come back with comments within 60 days

Performance reports

Every term

A Professional Performance Assessment Report for each 3-month clinical term

• Your supervisor and the consultants you worked with rate each area of the report fully, partly or not satisfied, by majority. A term counts only when every area is fully satisfied
• A direct observation of procedural skills is a consultant watching you do a procedure and confirming you can do it safely and on your own. Send it for sign-off within 14 days of the case

Major procedures

100

Each six months at least, or 75 in a paediatric term

As primary surgeon

500

Major procedures by the end of training, within the 1,200

Paediatric

50

Major paediatric procedures by the end of training, within the 1,200

• An operation counts once, and only if you took part in it and in the care before and after it. Primary surgeon means you did all of the main procedure, such as clipping the aneurysm. Minor procedures do not count

Research project

1

Supervised and approved by the NSAThe Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, which runs neurosurgical selection and training for RACS. Research Committee

Presentation

1

Oral, of its findings, at a meeting with competitive abstract selection

Publication

1

From the project, as primary author

• The project is a substantive neurosurgical study with a meaningful outcome, in which your role is significant. A qualified consultant or researcher supervises it, and need not be a neurosurgeon

Advanced Trauma Life Support

Year 1

Passed before you start or during Basic training, your first one to two years

Training seminars

All

Every NSAThe Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, which runs neurosurgical selection and training for RACS. seminar held while you are working in a training post, at your own cost

• Advanced Trauma Life Support, formerly Early Management of Severe Trauma, teaches the care of an injured patient in the first one to two hours. A training seminar is an NSAThe Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, which runs neurosurgical selection and training for RACS. teaching meeting for every trainee on one area of neurosurgery