New College Fellows

Current Data

In 2008, there were 2,257 new fellows in medical colleges. Of these, 925 or 41.0% were female (Table 4.26).

The state and territory distribution of new fellows does not capture those new fellows residing overseas.

Table 4.26: New fellows and proportion of females by medical specialty, 2008.

Medical specialty	New fellows	Proportion all new fellows (%)	Females	Proportion females (%)
Adult medicine(a)	303	13.4	126	41.6
Anaesthesia(b)	234	10.4	82	35.0
Pain medicine(c)	11	0.5	1	9.1
Dermatology	11	0.5	10	90.9
Emergency medicine	95	4.2	35	36.8
General practice
RACGP	819	36.3	367	44.8
ACRRM	22	1.0	7	31.8
Intensive care(d)	62	2.7	16	25.8
Medical administration	10	0.4	5	50.0
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	66	2.9	41	62.1
Occupational and Environmental medicine	11	0.5	5	45.5
Ophthalmology(e)	14	0.6	5	35.7
Paediatrics(a)	114	5.1	64	56.1
Pathology	68	3.0	35	51.5
Psychiatry	147	6.5	62	42.2
Public health medicine	13	0.6	9	69.2
Radiation oncology	11	0.5	4	36.4
Radiodiagnosis	54	2.4	14	25.9
Rehabilitation medicine	21	0.9	11	52.4
Surgery	171	7.6	26	15.2
Total	2,257	100.0	925	41.0

(a) Includes overseas trained specialists.
(b) 181 new fellows resided in Australia.
(c) Of 15 fellows admitted by examination and training in 2008, 11 are domiciled in Australia.
(d) Includes 13 fellows (3 females) who have returned overseas.
(e) RANZCO numbers include overseas trained specialists with new fellows for the first time. Also, the number of trainees is significantly reduced in this reporting year due to commencement of a 5-year rather than a 4-year training program.

Source: Medical colleges

Data on where new fellows resided is shown in Table 4.27

Table 4.27: New fellows by medical specialty and state/territory

Medical specialty	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Aust
Adult medicine(a)	108	81	41	19	21	7	6	6	289
Anaesthesia	50	40	45	21	14	7	1	3	181
Pain medicine	1	2	4	1	3	0	0	0	11
Dermatology	4	4	0	2	1	0	0	0	11
Emergency medicine	20	32	29	4	8	1	0	1	95
General practice
RACGP	(b)229	193	172	(c)107	94	24	na	na	819
ACRRM	8	0	5	1	5	0	2	1	22
Intensive care	15	14	12	4	3	0	0	1	49
Medical administration	1	0	9	0	0	0	0	0	10
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	17	15	18	5	7	2	2	0	66
Occupational and Environmental medicine	1	2	5	0	3	0	0	0	11
Opthalmology(d)	2	5	5	0	2	0	0	0	(e)14
Paediatrics(a)	23	28	16	7	23	1	2	2	102
Pathology	20	18	12	4	10	1	0	3	68
Psychiatry	41	36	29	14	21	3	0	3	147
Public health medicine	2	2	2	1	4	0	1	1	13
Radiation oncology	5	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	11
Radiodiagnosis	21	10	11	6	5	1	0	0	54
Rehabilitation medicine	12	4	2	0	3	0	0	0	21
Surgery	55	53	23	16	19	2	1	2	171
Total	635	543	441	213	246	49	15	23	2,165

(a) Includes overseas trained specialists now based in Australia.
(b) Includes ACT fellows.
(c) Includes NT fellows.
(d) RANZCO numbers include overseas trained specialists with new fellows for the first time. Also, the number of trainees is significantly reduced in this reporting year due to commencement of a 5-year rather than a 4-year training program.
(e) Includes 10 overseas trained specialists.

Source: Medical colleges

The distribution across states and territories of female new fellows follows a similar pattern to the distribution of all new fellows (Table 4.28).

Table 4.28: Female new fellows by medical specialty and state/territory, 2008.

Medical specialty	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Aust
Adult medicine(a)	44	34	20	4	10	2	1	4	119
Anaesthesia	13	12	17	5	4	3	1	1	56
Pain medicine	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Dermatology	4	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	10
Emergency medicine	9	10	12	3	1	0	0	0	35
General practice
RACGP	(d)114	91	74	(e)43	35	10	na	na	367
ACRRM	1	0	2	1	2	0	0	1	7
Intensive care	3	3	4	1	1	0	0	1	13
Medical administration	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	5
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	7	11	10	4	6	1	2	0	41
Occupational and Environmental medicine	1	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	5
Ophthalmology(b)	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	(c)5
Paediatrics(a)	12	20	9	4	13	0	2	0	60
Pathology	8	7	7	3	7	1	0	2	35
Psychiatry	20	15	11	4	9	1	0	2	62
Public health medicine	1	1	2	1	3	-	-	1	9
Radiation oncology	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Radiodiagnosis	2	4	4	1	3	-	-	-	14
Rehabilitation medicine	7	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	11
Surgery	9	7	2	3	4	1	0	0	26
Total	261	225	182	78	102	19	6	12	885

(a) Includes overseas trained specialists now based in Australia.
(b) RANZCO numbers include overseas trained specialists with new fellows for the first time. Also, the number of trainees is significantly reduced in this reporting year due to commencement of a 5-year rather than a 4-year training program.
(c) Total includes 4 overseas trained specialists.
(d) Includes ACT fellows.
(e) Includes NT fellows.

Source: Medical colleges

Trends

Between 2004 and 2008, the number of new fellows has almost doubled, increasing by 704 (45.3%) (Table 4.29). Adult medicine had the largest increase in terms of sheer numbers, with 303 new fellows in 2008 compared to 190 in 2004, while new fellow numbers tripled in intensive care (210% increase) and paediatrics doubled.

Dermatology, medical administration and ophthalmology were the only areas with lesser number of new fellows in 2008 than in 2004. It should be noted that the numbers in each were relatively small and varied considerably across years.

Appendix D provides further data back to 2000 on new fellows.

Table 4.29: New fellows by medical specialty, 2004-2008

Medical specialty	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Increase 2004-2008 (%)
Adult medicine(a)	190	181	247	209	303	59.5
Anaesthesia	128	198	135	150	234	82.8
Pain medicine	..	5	5	7	11	..
Dermatology	12	13	14	23	11	-8.3
Emergency medicine	80	58	78	69	95	18.8
General practice
RACGP	661	671	628	592	819	23.9
ACRRM	..	..	..	21	22	..
Intensive care	20	29	23	36	62	210.0
Medical administration	15	4	13	11	10	-33.3
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	29	28	49	46	66	127.6
Occupational and Environmental medicine	6	6	6	6	11	83.3
Ophthalmology	20	26	16	30	14	-30.0
Paediatrics(a)	57	74	73	47	114	100.0
Pathology	41	48	46	77	68	65.9
Public health medicine	8	4	13	15	13	62.5
Psychiatry	109	85	90	72	147	34.9
Radiation oncology	10	19	9	12	11	10.0
Radiodiagnosis	37	39	74	54	54	45.9
Rehabilitation medicine	15	13	19	24	21	40.0
Surgery	115	155	155	176	171	48.7
Total	1,553	1,656	1,693	1,677	2,257	45.3

(a) Includes overseas trained specialists.

Source: Medical colleges

Table 4.30: New fellows by state/territory, 2004-2008

	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	(a)Aust
2004	476	414	262	161	173	23	4	10	1,553
2005	501	434	310	157	179	35	10	14	1,640
2006	530	468	308	165	163	30	11	18	1,693
2007	538	470	327	151	135	30	11	15	1,677
2008	635	543	441	213	246	49	15	23	2,165
Increase 2004-2008 (%)	33.4	31.2	68.3	32.3	42.2	113.0	275.0	130.0	39.4

(a) 2005 and 2008 Australian totals differ from the sum of state/territory numbers due to the inclusion of new fellows who completed their training overseas.

Source: Medical colleges

The proportion of female new fellows has remained relatively constant over recent years, with just over two-fifths (41.0%) of new fellows each year being female (Table 4.31). Considerable variation is seen across specialities each year with only 9.1% of all new intensive care fellows
being female in 2008 compared to 44.8% of general practice new fellows and 90.9% of those in dermatology. Considerable variation is also seen from year to year within specialities.

Table 4.31: Proportion of female new fellows by medical specialty, 2004-2008

Medical specialty	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Proportion females (%)
Adult medicine	38.4	36.8	36.8	38.3	41.6
Anaesthesia	28.9	43.0	43.0	31.3	35.0
Pain medicine	..	40.0	40.0	0.0	9.1
Dermatology	66.7	42.9	42.9	34.8	90.9
Emergency medicine	42.5	31.3	30.8	33.3	36.8
General practice
RACGP	46.8	46.8	46.8	50.0	44.8
ACRRM	..	..	..	14.3	31.8
Intensive care	20.0	8.7	8.7	13.9	25.8
Medical administration	53.3	30.8	30.8	27.3	50.0
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	51.7	46.9	46.9	58.7	62.1
Occupational and Environmental medicine	0.0	33.3	33.3	16.7	45.5
Ophthalmology	50.0	31.3	31.3	50.0	35.7
Paediatrics	64.9	45.2	45.2	57.4	56.1
Pathology	45.0	65.2	65.2	53.2	51.5
Psychiatry	45.9	48.1	54.4	43.1	42.2
Public health medicine	62.5	85.7	84.6	80.0	69.2
Radiation oncology	50.0	55.6	55.6	50.0	36.4
Radiodiagnosis	37.8	33.8	33.8	24.1	25.9
Rehabilitation medicine	40.0	63.2	63.2	62.5	25.9
Surgery	6.1	13.5	13.5	16.5	15.2
Total	44.0	40.7	41.2	40.7	41.0
Female new fellows	683	667	697	682	925

Source: Medical colleges

The proportion of female new fellows ranged significantly across states and territories from 36.6% in South Australia to 52.2% in the ACT (Table 4.32). Over the period 2004–2008, the proportion of female new fellows decreased in all jurisdictions marginally, with the exception of Victoria,
which had a small increase. Changes in smaller jurisdictions should be treated with caution due to the relatively very low numbers of new fellows each year.

Table 4.32: Proportion of female new fellows by state/territory, 2004-2008

	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Aust
Proportion females (%)
2004	46.6	40.1	45.8	38.5	44.5	52.2	50.0	80.0	44.0
2005	42.5	39.4	36.8	41.4	41.3	57.1	30.0	50.0	40.7
2006	44.0	41.0	38.6	44.8	33.7	40.0	27.3	50.0	41.2
2007	40.5	41.3	40.1	41.7	40.0	43.3	45.5	26.7	40.7
2008	41.1	41.4	41.3	36.6	41.5	38.8	40.0	52.2	40.9

Source: Medical colleges

Selected Colleges - New Fellows by Subspeciality

Data is available from a number of the larger colleges, broken down by subspecialty. This is presented in Tables 4.33 to 4.36.

Pathology subspecialities

Table 4.33: Pathology subspecialties: New fellows and females by subspeciality, 2008

Subspecialty	New fellows	Females	Proportion females (%)
Anatomical pathology	27	12	44.4
Chemical pathology	3	2	66.7
Forensic pathology	2	1	50.0
Haematology	22	13	59.1
Immunology	5	1	20.0
Microbiology	9	6	66.7
Total	68	35	51.5

Source: RCPA

Physician subspecialties

Table 4.34: Adult medicine subspecialties: New fellows and females by subspecialty, 2008^(a)

Subspecialty	New fellows	Females	Proportion females (%)
Cardiology	43	14	32.6
Clinical genetics	0	0	-
Clinical Pharmacology	2	0	-
Endocrinology	20	14	70.0
Gastroenterology and Hepatology	32	10	31.3
General medicine	6	4	66.7
Geriatric medicine	19	11	57.9
Haematology	21	8	38.1
Immunology and Allergy	6	1	16.7
Infectious diseases	13	5	38.5
Intensive care	5	0	0.0
Medical oncology	30	20	66.7
Nephrology	17	10	58.8
Neurology	18	7	38.9
Nuclear medicine	2	0	-
Palliative medicine	1	1	100.0
Respiratory and Sleep medicine	21	8	38.1
Rheumatology	12	6	50.0
Total	268	119	44.4

^(a) Table does not include overseas trained specialists.

Source: RACP

Table 4.35: Paediatric and child health subspecialties: New fellows and females by subspecialty, 2008^(a)

Subspecialty	New fellows	Females	Proportion females (%)
Cardiology	2	0	-
Clinical genetics	1	1	100.0
Clinical Pharmacology	0	0	-
Community child health	4	4	100.0
Endocrinology	2	1	50.0
Gastroenterology	2	0	0.0
General Medicine	0	0	-
General paediatrics	53	34	64.2
Haematology	1	0	0.0
Immunology and Allergy	3	2	66.7
Infectious Diseases	0	0	-
Intensive care	0	0	-
Medical oncology	2	0	-
Neonatal/Perinatal medicine	10	4	40.0
Nephrology	1	1	100.0
Neurology	0	2	-
Nuclear Medicine	0	0	-
Paediatric emergency medicine	9	6	66.7
Palliative medicine	0	0	-
Respiratory and Sleep Medicine	3	1	33.3
Rheumatology	0	0	-
Total	96	58	60.4

^(a) This table does not include overseas trained specialists

Source: RACP

Surgical subspecialties

Table 4.36: Surgical subspecialties: New fellows and females by subspecialty, 2008

Subspecialty	New fellows	Females	Proportion females (%)
Cardiothoracic surgery	7	0	-
General surgery	58	11	19.0
Neurosurgery	16	4	25.0
Orthapedic surgery	37	1	2.7
Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery	12	4	33.3
Paediatric surgery	2	0	-
Plastic and reconstructive surgery	18	3	16.7
Urology	16	2	12.5
Vascular surgery	5	1	20.0
Total	171	26	15.2

Source: RACS