Training Organisations

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine#

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) is a professional College accredited by the Australian Medical Council to define standards and deliver training in the medical speciality of general practice. Fellows of ACRRM receive specialist registration as a General Practitioner with the Medical Board of Australia and can practise in any location throughout Australia. ACRRM’s curriculum and training program also prepares doctors to be Rural Generalist medical practitioners.

Rural Generalist medical practitioner#

A Rural Generalist medical practitioner is a General Practitioner who has specific expertise in providing medical care for rural and remote or isolated communities. A Rural Generalist medical practitioner understands and responds to the diverse needs of rural communities: this includes applying a population approach, providing safe primary, secondary and emergency care, culturally engaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health care as required, and providing specialised medical care in at least one additional discipline.

Training standards#

The clinical scope, practises and values that characterise the ACRRM vision for rural generalist medical practice are outlined in the Curriculum, Fellowship Training Program Handbook, Fellowship Assessment Handbook, training policies, supervisor and training post standards set and maintained by ACRRM.

Training pathways#

ACRRM offers four training pathways that can lead to Fellowship of ACRRM and specialist registration as a general practitioner. All pathways are accredited through the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and are recognised in reciprocal arrangements with other international medical colleges.

The pathways are the:

  1. Australian General Practice Training Program (AGPT)
  2. Independent Pathway (IP)
  3. The Rural Generalist Training Scheme (RGTS)
  4. Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS)

Training organisations#

The term training organisation is used to describe the organisation that delivers the training program. This is the College on the Independent and the Rural Generalist Training Scheme, Regional Training Organisations on the AGPT program or RVTS on the Remote Vocational Training Scheme.

Training organisations deliver education and training on behalf of the College. Training organisations must deliver the ACRRM Fellowship Training Program according to the ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations contained in this document.

Training organisations standards#

The ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations use the Standards for Assessment and Accreditation of Specialist Medical Education Programs and Professional Development Programs by the Australian Medical Council 2015 that are relevant to training delivery and supplement these with other standards to provide specificity and ensure relevancy to the context of the ACRRM Fellowship Training Program.

The ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations are divided into four main sections:

  1. Training and education systems
  2. Information, records and reporting
  3. Education delivery
  4. Training posts and supervisors

Under each section there are subsections and a set of standards for each. In general, the standards alone are specific enough without requiring further information. In some subsections mandatory indicators are included to provide additional guidance.

Revised standards#

The ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations 2020 replace the ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations 2016. The language in the Standards document is updated to reflect structural and terminology changes in the College program resulting from the implementation of the Rural Generalist Curriculum and the Training Program Requirements policy.

The revised standards include two additional mandatory indicators. The first indicator has been added following a revision of the ACRRM Standards for Supervisors and Training Posts. This standard moves the responsibility for ACRRM registrars to have a rural mentor from a training post responsibility and places the responsibility with the training organisations.

1.3.c All ACRRM registrars have the support of a Fellow of ACRRM throughout Core Generalist and Advanced Specialised Training, irrespective of training location. The Fellow may be supporting the registrar as a supervisor or medical educator. A second additional indicator clarifies that training organisations are responsible to support and monitor registrar training performance and progression in Advanced Specialised Training as well as in Core Generalist Training.

3.2.c Medical educators communicate with registrars and their supervisors to review performance and progress, at minimum each six months, throughout Core Generalist and Advanced Specialised Training. The ACRRM Standards for Training Organisations 2020 come into effect on 1 January 2021 and training organisations have until 31 December 2021 to fully comply with the additional mandatory indicators.

Training organisation accreditation#

Training organisations are required to be accredited by the College in order to deliver ACRRM training. The accreditation process involves ongoing reporting and monitoring with escalation if concerns are identified. A review is generally untaken each three years. At the conclusion of a review, an accreditation outcome is determined and if most standards are met, accreditation is extended. Training organisations that do not fully met all the standards and indicators must continue to work to achieve these standards and the College monitors progress. Persistent failure to meet standards may result in removal of accreditation.

Training organisation reporting#

The College and training organisations exchange information on registrar training and post accreditation. The training organisation reporting requirements for registrars and training posts are provided in appendix 1.

The College requires a brief annual report from training organisations; to be informed about changes made by the training organisation and in order to inform the College own annual reporting requirements to the AMC. The requirements for the annual report are provided in appendix 1.

Last updated on by acrrmbot