Intercollegiate conversations: Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

In the first of a series of online interviews with other Australian and New Zealand Specialty Colleges about the developments and shared challenges with implementing competency-based medical education, I spoke with the current Dean of Education at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Dr Ian Graham. Dr Graham is not an anaesthetist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, educator and consultant in health management. He was appointed into the role of part-time Dean of Education at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists in August 2014. The interview was conducted in person on 13 April 2016 at Austin Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, and subsequent changes were made to the manuscript through email by Dr Graham on 28 August 2016.

Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors.

The Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils launched the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors in October 2006. The curriculum framework: balances the major areas of clinical management, communication and professionalism, and highlights the importance of an integrated approach to prevocational learning and teaching; supports practice-based, opportunistic and continuous learning, and specifies performance and supervision requirements for junior doctors; and has been published in both Internet and printable versions, to make the document accessible and easily usable by junior doctors and supervisors. The implementation of the curriculum framework will be overseen by a steering group that includes representatives from key stakeholder groups, including junior doctors and medical students.

Lack of integration of medical education in Australia: the need for change.

The lack of cohesion across health and education sections and national and state jurisdictions is counterproductive to effective national policies in medical education and training. Existing systems in Australia for medical education and training lack coordination, and are under resourced and under pressure. There is a need for a coordinated national approach to assessment of international medical graduates, and for meeting their education and training needs. The links between prevocational and vocational training must be improved. Tensions between workforce planning, education and training can only be resolved if workforce and training agencies work collaboratively. All prevocational positions should be designed and structured to ensure that service, training, teaching and research are appropriately balanced. There is a need for more health education research in Australia.