Data covers all Australian trainees, including those who are training overseas. Training programs and places in New Zealand and places in Australian programs for overseas trainees have not been included in the data. Where differences exist between the numbers reported across tables for a given specialty, these are due to the inclusion of overseas trainees and these have been noted in the table footnotes where applicable.
In 2009, there were 12,958 vocational trainees (Table 4.3). The largest number of trainees was in adult medicine (2,823), followed by general practice (2,309) and emergency medicine (1,543).
Table 4.3: Vocational trainees and placements by medical specialty, 2009(a)
Medical speciality | Basic trainees | Advanced trainees | Total college trainees |
| Adult medicine(b)(c) | 1,666 | 1,157 | 2,823 |
| Anaesthesia | 509 | 485 | 994 |
| Pain medicine | .. | 53 | 53 |
| Dermatology | 39 | 39 | 78 |
| Emergency medicine | 732 | 811 | 1,543 |
| General practice | .. | 2,309 | 2,309 |
| Intensive care | 82 | 375 | 457 |
| Medical administration | .. | 92 | 92 |
| Obstetrics and Gynaecology | 301 | 131 | 432 |
| Occupational and Environmental medicine(c) | .. | 55 | 55 |
| Ophthalmology | 53 | 77 | 130 |
| Paediatrics(b) | 459 | 453 | 912 |
| Pathology | .. | 224 | 224 |
| Pathology and RACP (jointly) | .. | 137 | 137 |
| Psychiatry | 661 | 322 | 983 |
| Public health medicine(c) | .. | 61 | 61 |
| Radiation oncology | .. | 101 | 101 |
| Radiodiagnosis | .. | 328 | 328 |
| Rehabilitation medicine(c) | .. | 138 | 138 |
| Surgery(d)(e) | .. | 901 | 1,108 |
Total | 4,502 | 8,249 | 12,958 |
(a) In 2009 international medical graduates have been included in trainee numbers for the first time.
(b) Includes joint RACP and RCPA trainees and trainees based outside Australia.
(c) All figures reflect only those trainees registered to the week commencing 20 July 2009. These figures will change after the second intake of registrations at the end of August.
(d) RACS does not differentiate between basic and advanced surgical trainees as the surgical program is an integrated program (SET).
(e) Includes 901 in the College SET programme and 207 in the closed Basic Surgical Training programme which will cease in 2011.
Source: Medical colleges and GPET
Advanced Training
In 2009, there were 8,249 advanced vocational trainees/positions in programs in Australia. This constitutes almost two thirds (63.7%) of the total number of all vocational trainees. The specialty with the largest number of trainees was general practice (2,309), followed by adult medicine (1,157) and surgery (901) (Table 4.4).Table 4.4: Advanced vocational training positions/trainees by medical specialty and state/territory, 2009.
Medical specialty | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | (a)Aust |
| Adult medicine(b) | 377 | 359 | 166 | 82 | 96 | 17 | 9 | 24 | 1,157 |
| Anaesthesia(c) | 144 | 138 | 86 | 45 | 48 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 485 |
| Pain medicine(c) | 14 | 14 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 53 |
| Dermatology | 16 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | 39 |
| Emergency medicine | 231 | 195 | 156 | 63 | 97 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 811 |
| General practice(e) | 764 | 543 | 474 | 184 | 201 | 73 | 77 | .. | (f)2,309 |
| Intensive care | 123 | 95 | 76 | 37 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 375 |
| Medical administration | 20 | 19 | 22 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 92 |
| Obstetrics and Gynaecology | 62 | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 131 |
| Occupational and Environmental medicine | 16 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 55 |
| Ophthalmology(d) | 35 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 77 |
| Paediatrics(b) | 152 | 124 | 69 | 30 | 39 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 453 |
| Pathology | 72 | 51 | 52 | 14 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 224 |
| Pathology and RACP (jointly) | 58 | 36 | 19 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 137 |
| Psychiatry | 103 | 114 | 53 | 21 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 322 |
| Public health medicine | 19 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 61 |
| Radiation oncology | 41 | 23 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 101 |
| Radiodiagnosis | 94 | 97 | 59 | 33 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 328 |
| Rehabilitation medicine | 60 | 33 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 138 |
| Surgery(g) | 326 | 263 | 153 | 66 | 78 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 901 |
Total | 3,491 | 2,190 | 1,486 | 623 | 722 | 156 | 130 | 122 | 8,249 |
(a) Those training overseas are included in the Australian total. Therefore state/territory totals do not equate to Australian total.
(b) These figures include trainees within the joint RACP and RCPA program and conditional advanced trainees.
(c) ANZCA and FPMANZCA accredit training units not number of positions.
(d) Includes 8 trainees in final year overseas training posts.
(e) ACT trainees are included in NSW total.
(f) Registrars who transfer between providers part-way through the year are counted against each state tally but only once in the total.
(g) RACS does not differentiate between basic and advanced surgical trainees as the surgical program is the integrated program (SET).
Source: Medical colleges and GPET
The majority of advanced trainees were located in New South Wales (34.4%), Victoria (25.9%) and Queensland (17.5%) (Table 4.5). Overall, trainees were reasonably well distributed across states and territories when compared with their proportion of the Australian population. Victoria and New South Wales had proportionally more trainees, while the proportion of trainees/positions in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania were below their proportion of the population.
Table 4.5: Proportion of advanced vocational training positions/trainees by medical specialty and state/territory, 2009
Medical specialty | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | (a)Aust |
| Adult medicine | 32.6 | 31.0 | 14.3 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 97.7 |
| Anaesthesia | 29.7 | 28.5 | 17.7 | 9.3 | 9.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 100.0 |
| Pain medicine | 26.4 | 26.4 | 24.5 | 7.6 | 11.3 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 |
| Dermatology | 41.0 | 33.3 | 17.9 | 2.6 | 5.1 | .. | .. | .. | 100.0 |
| Emergency medicine | 28.5 | 24.0 | 19.2 | 7.8 | 12.0 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 97.5 |
| General practice(a) | 33.1 | 23.5 | 20.5 | 8.0 | 8.7 | 3.2 | 3.3 | .. | 100.3 |
| Intensive care | 32.8 | 25.3 | 20.3 | 9.9 | 6.7 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 100.0 |
| Medical administration | 21.7 | 20.7 | 23.9 | 3.3 | 8.7 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 4.3 | 84.8 |
| Obstetrics and Gynaecology | 47.3 | 25.2 | 13.7 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 100.0 |
| Occupational and Environmental medicine | 29.1 | 23.6 | 23.6 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 100.0 |
| Ophthalmology | 45.5 | 22.1 | 11.7 | 10.4 | 7.8 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 100.0 |
| Paediatrics | 33.6 | 27.4 | 15.2 | 6.6 | 8.6 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 94.3 |
| Pathology | 32.1 | 22.8 | 23.2 | 6.3 | 11.6 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 100.0 |
| Pathology and RACP (jointly) | 42.3 | 26.3 | 13.9 | 4.4 | 8.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 100.0 |
| Psychiatry | 32.0 | 35.4 | 16.5 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 100.0 |
| Public health medicine | 31.1 | 16.4 | 9.8 | 0.0 | 9.8 | 1.6 | 14.8 | 16.4 | 100.0 |
| Radiation oncology | 40.6 | 22.8 | 16.8 | 6.9 | 6.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 100.0 |
| Radiodiagnosis | 28.7 | 29.6 | 18.0 | 10.1 | 9.1 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 100.0 |
| Rehabilitation medicine | 43.5 | 23.9 | 13.0 | 5.1 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 90.6 |
| Surgery | 36.2 | 29.2 | 17.0 | 7.3 | 8.7 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 100.0 |
Total(%)(b) | 34.4 | 25.9 | 17.5 | 6.7 | 8.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 98.7 |
| Population proportion(%)(c) | 32.5 | 24.8 | 20.1 | 7.4 | 10.2 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 100.0 |
(a) Australian total and state total differ because 7 positions were registrars transferring between states and counted against each state but only once in total.
(b) Balance of trainees are working overseas.
(c) Population data from ABS, Australian Demographic Statistics, 2009 (Cat.no. 3101.0), Canberra.
Source: Medical colleges and GPET