ugh, employment

[fahye]

Well, we've had the presentation about Applying For Intern Jobs In NSW and now I'm on a mission to find out everything I can about the 15 different health networks and their hospitals, so that I can rank my preferences accordingly. WHY SO MANY HOSPITALS. More to the point, why so many hospitals and parts of the Sydney area about which I know...nothing?

Applying to Canberra is a whole separate process, but since I am guaranteed an offer from NSW, I may as well make sure it's one I've put some thought into.

Once again I am plagued with indecision. I love and miss Sydney and all my Sydney-based people, but I have to confirm an offer with NSW or ACT Health by early August, which means I basically have to know where I'm going to live. I have a couple of maybe-options for Sydney accommodation, but there's a high chance I'd have to rent an apartment by myself, which I am not keen on for reasons both financial and emotional-support-wise.

Canberra would be...easy. Very easy.

BUT SYDNEY.

*tears out what remains of her hair*

I'm going to go and make an enormous document full of information about public transport and available rotations. That should be soothing.

Comments

[-leareth.livejournal.com]

You can live in my garage =D

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

Every hospital network requires a ten-week term to be done somewhere rural, which means that I basically HAVE to have a car. Grr.

[-leareth.livejournal.com]

My garage is big since there's only one car in a double space, and is easy walking distance from shops, eating, cinema, and the brand new soon to be opened concert/theatre space!

Speaking of cars could you, I don't know, hire a car for that period of time maybe? Or borrow one from home?

[pirateygoodness.livejournal.com]

How does matching work in Australia? Do you get an offer from a program and then choose a location, or is it some intensely complicated mixture of both?

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Ohh man. Um. It is complicated but I think probably LESS complicated than North American systems?

There is no such thing as 'programs' here. You are a JMO and then an RMO (intern and residency years) and those are known as the prevocational years because everyone does them, and they are general. You will usually do one ten-week ED term, one medical term, one surgical term, and then two other terms in whatever, during each of those years. After those two years, you THEN decide what specialty stream you want, and apply to a) the College of that specialty, and b) the hospital that you want to start your specialty training in.

Because of this, where you go for those two years is not HUGELY important when it comes to training; all accredited hospitals have to offer their junior doctors a basic curriculum of teaching and training. But you might really want to go to one hospital over another because, say, it offers an anaesthetic term to RMOs, which would help you when it comes to applying for an anaesthetics training program the year after.

Each state has a different way of doing the assignation process (I think Victoria's is merit-based, ie. all state graduates are ranked by marks and then the top people get their top preferences, etc.) and generally they allocate first to people who graduated from medical schools in that state, THEN to interstate applicants (so I will have to wait for a second-round offer from the ACT, but I am guaranteed a first-round NSW offer). You can apply to as many states as you like and potentially get an offer from all of them.

NSW has a complex algorithm thing where you rank all 15 hospital networks in order of preference and then they try to make sure that everyone gets the best possible outcome (like, you are pretty much guaranteed to get one of your top 8, I think). There are separate systems for people who want to work predominantly in a rural or regional hospital (because they are much more likely to get their first preference!). Nobody in NSW interviews you or asks for an application or looks at your marks. (ACT requires interview and referees etc., bah.)

What else. Hmm. Because you are allocated to a NETWORK and not a hospital, you will have a home hospital but also be required to do terms in rural hospitals that also belong to that network.