Opportunities for doctors working in psychiatry in Australia are extremely
good, and in this video, I'm going to show you why and how you can apply.
Hello, I'm Dr Anthony Llewellyn
the Career Doctor I make videos on YouTube about the doctor job process in Australia.
In this video, we are focusing on psychiatry.
So if you are a psychiatry doctor,
you may want to check out the links in the description, including the related
blog post and the quick survey you can take in order to assess your prospects.
If you're a trained psychiatrist in Australia, then your job prospects are
excellent and they really have been for a long, long time.
As a fellow of the Royal Australian
and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the RANZCP, you can literally work
anywhere in Australia and New Zealand and pretty much in any particular field,
whether that be general psychiatry or something specific,
like child and adolescent psychiatry or working in public or private or even.
But there are lots of job vacancies
for psychiatrists in Australia, as there is in most other parts of the world.
Mental health is a growth area,
although arguably it's more accurate to say that we are just now realizing how
important it is relative to somatic medicine.
The College of Psychiatrists even says this themselves.
So this all makes the task of those
recruiting to psychiatry positions very tricky.
I have had personal experience with this
in past roles where I've been quite successful in managing to put together
strategies to fill positions in mental health in Australia.
It is quite common for recruiters to have
a strategy of filling positions from international medical graduates or IMGs.
So if you're an IMG psychiatrist or even an IMG trainee in psychiatry,
in some cases, then you will find that there are usually
plenty of opportunities available to you in Australia.
In fact, psychiatrists possibly the most
accessible medical specialty for IMG access in this country.
So in this video, I want to share my experience with you,
guide you and give you some tips about the process.
So here's a summary of what we will discuss about the prospects of army
doctors working in psychiatry in Australia.
One, there are a number of vacant psychiatry consultant positions,
as well as vacant training posts all year round in Australia to the specialist
pathway for psychiatrists with a little bit differently from other colleges.
Three, if you're a specialist and you have
a reasonable shot of being found, comparable and substantial comparability
is not outside the realm of possibilities for some.
So if you are a trainee psychiatrist from the UK, the Republic of Ireland,
Canada or the United States, you will most likely easily find a spare
training post to fill under the competent authority pathway process.
And fifth, while the prospects are very
good for psychiatry, you can't just waltz into a job.
So right at the end of this video, I am going to share with you my top five
tips for working as a psychiatrist in Australia.
So if you're excited so far,
then you may wish to fill out the quick survey in the description where we can
provide you with an immediate quick appraisal of your prospects,
as well as review your career profile in more depth for you.
With that synopsis out of the way, let's dive in to the detail.
So what does a psychiatrist do in Australia?
Well, according to the College
of Psychiatry, as a psychiatrist, you are able to listen to and provide
expert care for vulnerable people and their families and work to prevent,
diagnose and treat mental health conditions.
Lead teams of other doctors and health professionals across the new generations
of psychiatrists provide expert opinion to the community, government and the courts.
So how do Australian doctors become psychiatrists?
Well, for an Australian trained doctor
to become a psychiatrist, they need to complete a medical degree
due on the job training in a hospital for at least 12 months,
i.e. complete an internship and then enrol in complete training in the medical
specialty of psychiatry with the RANZCP, especially, training is a minimum of five
years and leads to the Fellowship of the RANZCP the FRANZCP.
Now, whilst the college still views its
fellowship as a generalist qualification, there are a number of advanced training
programs or certificates that you can also undertake to extend your knowledge
of certain aspects of psychiatry, including child and adolescent
consultation, liaison, psychotherapy, Forensic, old age, to name a few.
Now, how do overseas training programs align with the College of Psychiatry?
Well, because being a psychiatrist is
still considered to be mainly a generalist role in Australia.
Most overseas specialty programs will align well with the college program
because these are also fairly generalist in their approach in the main as well.
There are sometimes some exceptions, however.
For example, in the United States it is possible to train primarily as a child
and adolescent psychiatrist with little or no adult experience.
This can be a little bit of an issue because the college program in Australia
is largely adult based, and occasionally when army psychiatrists
apply to the college, they are found to be a bit lacking
in certain experiences that are a requirement here in Australia.
Again, the most notable is the requirement
to do at least six months child and adolescent psychiatry training.
This, though, is, however, rarely a deal breaker and usually only
results in some extra recommendations of additional time in child and adolescent
psychiatry as part of the supervised component of the specialist pathway.
So what are the chances of getting a job as a psychiatrist?
Well, again, according to the college itself, the likelihood.
Of finding a job as a psychiatrist is very high.
There are not enough psychiatrists to meet demand, especially in rural areas.
In fact, you don't really even need to look at rural areas of Australia,
as you can see by this recent shot from one medical recruitment company website.
As you can see from above, there are both consultant staff specialist
roles available, as well as trainee roles, registrar roles in major capital cities
such as Perth and Canberra and regional coastal areas.
So what can psychiatrists learn in Australia?
Well, in the above image also you get an indication of the salary packages
which for consulting psychiatrist can range from three hundred thousand dollars
to the high four hundred thousand dollars Australian per annum,
sometimes specific additional incentives applicable for psychiatrists.
And I was recently successful in obtaining a package of almost five hundred thousand
dollars for a doctor in a particular part of Australia.
This is one of the reasons that being open to working in regional areas may make
sense, as your package may actually be bigger.
And generally your standard of living, which particularly takes into account
housing costs, will be much lower in such a place.
On top of the package for primary
psychiatrist, employers are often also prepared to help with things like moving
costs and may also pay for the cost of applying to the college.
From your Professional Development Fund for you.
Whilst the pay packets for trainee
psychiatry doctors are obviously not nearly as large as they are
for consultants, you may still earn a bit more than the annual salary through
performing overtime shifts, which are generally paid at twice the hourly rate.
And it is not unheard of.
Employers also offering to cover some moving costs for trainee doctors as well.
So what qualifications do you need to work as a psychiatrist in Australia?
Well, your qualifications will be assessed by the College of Psychiatrists
and in general you will need some form of postgraduate qualification that is
preferably at least four years in length for the United Kingdom in Ireland.
This is the most basic, combined with the fact in the UK or
Certificate of completion training or the equivalent SEEIS 60 for Ireland.
For Canada, you will require a certificate
in psychiatry from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
For the USA, you will require a certificate
of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for India.
You will need a minimum of an M.D. or equivalent in psychiatry,
and preferably you will also do more than three years of training.
The addition of the deployment of the national board is also seen
generally as a good addition for Sri Lanka.
You you'll need a minimum of an M.D.
in psychiatry, which is recognised through the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine
and be board certified as a psychiatrist by the Sri Lankan Medical Council.
And look, I could keep going
with the various countries, but I think you get the point.
If you have a particular question about
your own country, then leave a comment below for me.
So what is the process for obtaining
specialist recognition as a psychiatrist in Australia?
Well, the process is almost the same as it is for other specialists.
Your educational qualifications
and training, as well as your specialist practice, will be assessed by the college,
in this case, the College of Psychiatrists for Comparability.
If you're wondering about how comparability works,
then I've got a series about Specialist Pathway,
which I'll leave a link to, and you can check them out as well.
Now, if you're deemed to be within 12 months of becoming a psychiatrist,
you'll be offered substantial comparability, which is by far the best
outcome is this generally requires you to work as a specialist and a peer review
by current fellow of the college for 12 months.
If you're deemed to be within 24 months of becoming a psychiatrist,
then you'll be offered what's called partial comparability.
This is the next best outcome
and generally requires you to work in an appropriate advanced training role,
also under peer review by current college filler.
It will also require you to undertake a range of assessments and activities,
as well as sit for some of the written and clinical examinations of the college.
Finally, if you're not deemed to be able to become a psychiatrist within 24 months,
you'll be found what's called not comparable.
This means that you need to consider
alternative pathways for registration and working as a doctor in Australia.
One key difference from the process of specialist assessment for other
colleges, however, is that the College of Psychiatrists
requires you to have an offer of an appropriate position first before
considering you for the specialist pathway.
Now, whilst this may seem initially
restrictive, it is probably better because it reduces the number of specialist.
I'm quite deemed comparable, but I've been unable to gain an appropriate job offer.
It also means that you're more likely to be supported by your employer to go
through the college assessment process, including financially.
So whilst it's not absolutely guaranteed
being interviewed successfully for a position as a psychiatrist
in Australia, we generally mean that the college itself
will also find you comparable as can be seen in the following image taken
from the most recent Medical Board of Australia report.
The majority of specialist energy applications to the College
of Psychiatrists are deemed substantially comparable, but with a significant number
deemed partially comparable and only a small number seen as not comparable.
Whilst we don't have figures by country of injuries versus the College
of Psychiatry assessment process, it's my experience that specialist
psychiatrists from the competent authority countries are the ones that are generally
found to be substantially comparable, especially psychiatrists from other
countries are more likely to be found, partially comparable.
But it does the.
On the individual circumstances, and it is not uncommon for specialist
psychiatrists, say, from India or Sri Lanka and even
South Africa to be found substantially comparable at times,
empirical evidence for this exist when you look at the overall comparison between
specialists from India and the UK in the same medical board report.
So what do you need to demonstrate if you
want to work as a psychiatry trainee in Australia?
Well, in order to convince an employer that you are suitable to work in a trainee
psychiatry role, you generally need some prior psychiatry training experience
in your own country because the process of becoming registered under the competent
authority pathway is more streamlined and because the training programs in these
competent authority countries are more similar to that in Australia,
it does tend to be the case of trainee doctors with experience inside the UK,
Ireland, Canada or the US are preferred by Australian employers when it comes
to filling vacant trainee positions here in psychiatry.
These are generally positions that are not
being able to be filled by local graduates.
Now, whilst it's not impossible
for training psychiatry doctors from other countries to also time post,
it's more difficult as the process to gaining registration is more complex.
However, if you have significant
experience as a trainee psychiatrist, you may be able to attain a position
for a maximum of two years and the short term specialist medical training pathway.
Is there a recognition of prior learning for ordinary trainees?
Well, colleges have become better in Australia in assisting trainee doctors
from other countries for appeal recognition of prior learning.
In fact, I recently assisted a trainee doctor who worked in the UK to obtain
almost three years of their five year RANZCP psychiatry training program.
That being said, Arpaio generally reduces the amount of experience he may have
to undertake, but doesn't normally excuse you.
From the key are NZ step assessment.
So the effect may be to combat the number
of assessment requirements you need to complete in the remaining time.
Finally, some tips for securing a secondary place in Australia.
So thus far it probably sounds like being
able to work as a psychiatrist in Australia is a bit of a lie down there.
And whilst it is true that psychiatry is one of the top medical specialties
that employers are regularly trying to fill in Australia from international
doctors, it's not just a matter of sending off a quick email with a three year
out-of-date CV attached, there is still a bit of work ahead of you.
So finally, here are my recommendations for you, my five top tips for what you
should be doing if you're keen on working in psychiatry in Australia.
First of all, ensure that you do have an up to date and employer friendly résumé.
He should be around three to six pages in length, depending on your experience.
And you should make sure wherever possible that tailor it to individual job openings.
If you're needing tips on your resume anyway, CV, we have several posts about
this matter on the blog, as well as a service for helping you redo
your resume if you'd like some assistance with this key document.
Secondly, if you're going to apply
for a specialist role, it's worth reviewing the documentation
on the college website first to see if you will be eligible.
And we also have a handy, free,
short course on the specialist pathway that you can take as well.
Third, whilst it is sometimes possible to score post in a major Australian city
like Sydney or Melbourne, if you're too limited about where you want
to work, you're very likely to severely limit your chances and maybe miss out.
Bear in mind that once you complete your
first year or two under supervision, it will then normally be able to be
eligible for specialist registration or general registration.
At this point, you can often move jobs in locations much more easily.
So the key message here is to be open to all possibilities for your first job.
You may even like working in regional
Western Australia or the north west coast of Tasmania.
Fourthly, and following on from the above,
whilst it is possible to directly approach employers for posts in psychiatry,
this is only really about 50 per cent of the job market available.
It is often unclear which publicly
advertised positions are open to employ doctors and employers are also often
directly working with medical recruitment companies to fill vacant spots.
So for this reason, I generally recommend that you do contact a medical recruitment
company if you believe you're eligible for a specialist position as an IG or
trainee psychiatry doctor from one of the competent authority countries.
If you fill in a survey below,
we can maybe put you in contact with our recommended medical recruitment company.
And finally, if an employer is interested
in you, they will invite you for an interview.
Now, this may be the first time you've
have a job interview and some time, maybe years.
And it will almost certainly be the first
job interview that you've set for in Australia.
You may be a little nervous and it will be important to give a good impression.
They might therefore want to consider
getting some assistance, by the way, of some interview coaching beforehand.
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