Training Program Evaluation, CLP and More

Faculty of Clinical Radiology | Chief Censor Dr Barry Soans

The new year is always exciting as we welcome approximately 120 new members who have commenced their training in radiology. It is a highly competitive process so well done on being offered a training position.

Following the implementation of the Clinical Radiology Training Program in 2022, a key focus for 2023 will be evaluation of our new training program. We appreciate that many of you have already provided feedback, I encourage you to continue to share your thoughts and suggestions via CRTraining@ranzcr.edu.au. We are continually adapting and looking to improve our training program. The Clinical Radiology Training Handbook has been updated to reflect changes to the examinations and phase progressions.

The ePortfolio has been designed to record, monitor and review a trainee’s activities and assessments as they complete the Clinical Radiology Training Program. To support trainees, Clinical Supervisors and Directors of Training, a library of ‘how to’ videos has been recorded on a range of topics including an overview of navigation within the system, how to complete WBAs and DoT reviews, as well as a number of helpful tips and tricks. This video library is updated with new content appearing regularly.

2023 sees the launch of the new Phase 2 Exams. I am delighted to share that the Phase 2 Written Examinations were held via online proctoring in February and ran smoothly. The new Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Radiology (OSCER) is the capstone assessment to assess competence to practice autonomously as a clinical radiologist and will be held for the first time in June 2023. Our clinical radiology examinations team have had a very busy start to the year, preparing for these upcoming examinations. Thank you to all our examiners for their dedication and commitment, the College values and appreciates the time they volunteer.

The Centralised Learning Program (CLP), a 24-month e-lecture series, successfully launched last year and has been a great addition to the Clinical Radiology Training Program. Within the first year of its launch, the CLP had 28 speakers contribute to 11 sessions, with more than16 hours of recorded content, and more than 4,500 views so far.

A big thank you to co-convenors, Dr Sally Ayesa and Dr Jane McEniery, for graciously offering their time to oversee this initiative, along with all the other subject matter experts who have contributed to the CLP’s success for the first year.

The Selection Working Group is continuing to work on meeting the AMC requirements that ‘the College’s selection guidelines and processes are consistent, transparent, rigorous and fair and that the College must increase selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori trainees as well as applicants from rural and regional areas’.

The new draft CR Training Accreditation Standards were sent out for consultation to all members and training sites late last year. The CR Accreditation Review Working Group (CR ARWG) reviewed the feedback and have incorporated many of the suggestions into the standards. The College will run a second round of consultation providing members and training sites with a further opportunity to provide feedback on the standards and on the proposed new processes for accreditation. The new standards and the new accreditation process will be piloted later this year and the ARWG is proposing a transition process for the introduction of the new standards over the next few years.

In the IMG space, we started 2022 with quite a large backlog of applicants waiting to be assessed. With a lot of effort from all our IMG assessors we start 2023 with a much-reduced waiting time for IMG assessments. Continuing the changes implemented due to the pandemic, all IMG applicants are now assessed by video conference, either joining from home or the College office.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the incoming members of the Clinical Radiology Trainees Committee (CRTC), with Dr Sanjay Hettige as the chair. I would like to encourage all trainees to be engaged and collaborate with the CRTC, they are an integral part of the College providing trainee representation across College activities ensuring trainee interests are front of mind.