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Pathology covers Microbiology, so this is the parent specialty entry.
RCPA
When Microbiology applications run, and what the round looks like.
Eligibility requires current general (AHPRA) medical registration and at least two years of clinical experience after the primary medical degree — so typically PGY3+ at commencement. In exceptional circumstances, applicants without two years may be considered if they can show alternative relevant experience of a similar level; Overseas Trained Specialists assessed by the College as requiring no more than two years of additional assessment/training may also apply.
Training positions and workforce figures below are limited to Victoria. Selection criteria, requirements and application dates are set by RCPA nationally and apply in every state.
Moderate
How Microbiology training is structured.
5 years
Competencies
To complete
Basic Pathological Sciences examination
Every trainee takes it or applies for exemption. Joint trainees registering from 2020 are no longer automatically exempt, so the exemption that used to come with the joint route is gone.
Usually before or during the first year of training
Microbiology Part I
Two phases. Phase 1 is a 3 hour 15 minute written paper of 20 extended answers, a 2 hour 15 minute paper of 30 short answers with images and data, and a wet practical identifying up to 10 unknown organisms, held over one week in your own laboratory. Phase 2 is an oral of 8 structured stations, offered only after a pass or a borderline in Phase 1. The written papers have been online since 2024, and both parts have to be sat during a year of laboratory training.
After 24 months of laboratory training, or 18 months on the joint route
Microbiology Part II
An oral of 8 structured stations covering quality assurance, safety, management, medico-legal issues, communication and teamwork as well as technique, plus the major and minor projects, the portfolio and satisfactory supervisor reports. There is no Part II written paper.
Ordinarily the final year, and no earlier than the third year of laboratory training on the joint route
5 years for both Fellowships
A joint program of the two colleges, managed by the Committee for Joint College Training in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. Five years, 2 of advanced infectious diseases and 3 of laboratory microbiology, in either order or in a joint laboratory and clinical position with the split nominated for approval. Nothing is credited back, so this is the one RCPA joint route that buys both Fellowships rather than a shorter program. Clinical and laboratory training cannot both be done inside one service of one institution, and the laboratory years cannot all be in one laboratory. Two clinical projects are required during the infectious diseases years, separate from and additional to the RCPA projects.
One set of categories across every specialty, so two can be compared. Only those with criteria recorded for this specialty are shown.
Rotations, logbooks, procedures, and exposure
Selection points and pathways for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Māori applicants
Exams, qualifications, courses, and teaching
Papers, impact factor, audits, and QI
Who is asked to report on you, and what they are asked
Registration mechanics and logistics not covered above
Timed steps, grouped by when each one is worth doing.
Before applying
Before the examinations
During training
Queensland Health is the only state department publishing these figures so far.
Curriculum vitae content, 25 per cent of the overall score.
Referee report, 5 per cent.
Interview performance, 70 per cent.
No published figures exist yet for Victoria. This is being worked on. The selection criteria and requirements above apply Australia wide regardless of state. See the Queensland figures.
11 posts across 11 hospitals in Victoria. Each circle counts hospitals.
Monash Pathology (Monash Medical Centre), Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) are not shown on the map, with no location on file. Their posts are still counted above.
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Select a region to see the hospitals inside it.
Hospital locations © OpenStreetMap contributors. State boundaries from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Published by RCPA and the Medical Board unless stated.
Connected to this specialty by the Medical Board’s specialty structure, by college, or by a shared training pathway.
Requirements, windows, and criteria change annually. Verify with RCPA before making career decisions. Report an error on this page.
Positions are offered in order of standing. Trainees already in the Victorian program come first, then RCPA microbiology trainees from elsewhere including New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, then prospective trainees holding RCPA registration without endorsed microbiology training, then anyone else with medical registration, evidence of recent practice and at least 2 years of clinical experience.
An overseas candidate is appointed only where no local candidate is found suitable.
A head of department may veto an appointment to their own laboratory, and has to justify it to the committee.
You are re-interviewed each year even to stay where you are, and you may spend a maximum of 2 years at any one laboratory.
Infectious diseases registrars seeking laboratory time are not formally interviewed, and take positions RCPA trainees have not filled.