The hospital has a strong generalist focus. Medical patients all come under one of our 4 medical teams. Other than cardiology, sub-specialties do inpatient consults but do not have admitting bed-cards. The general medicine department has about 50 to 80 inpatients admitted under our service at any given time.

GACM advanced trainees have exceptional access to high quality rotations in acute general medicine, core and non-core rotations. They can also apply for our sub-speciality training programs (see sub-speciality page). You can apply for 6 to 24 month contracts depending on what is available and your training needs.

Training structure

ASH supports up to 4 GACM advanced trainees.

General medicine terms:

1. Acute and core general medicine – allocated to general medicine team, includes rotating through admitting and night shift, and 2 outpatient clinics weekly.
2. Outpatients and outreach – attached to general medicine and multiple sub-specialty local and visiting clinics including gastroenterology, rheumatology, endocrinology, allergy, immunology, neurology, respiratory, infectious diseases. Attend remote clinics with general medicine and sub-specialty teams.
3. Tennant Creek - general combined general medicine and renal, mix of inpatient consults for their 20 bed hospital, general medicine outpatients and support for the renal dialysis unit.
4. Renal (core and non-core) - apply through general medicine OR subspecialty renal pathway.
5. Coronary care and stroke unit and cardiology – this is supported by a cardiology advanced trainee, junior medical officer and 2 to 3 onsite cardiologists. Depending on staffing this may include some nights, similar to an ICU term.

Sub-specialty terms:

1. Renal (core and non-core) – suitable for general medicine OR renal trainee. Apply through general medicine OR subspecialty renal pathway.
2. Palliative care – apply through subspecialty palliative care pathway. Community, inpatient, outpatient and home visit service. 2 palliative care physicians for support and an on-site state of the art palliative care hospice.
3. Alcohol and other drugs - apply through subspecialty AOD pathway. Community, inpatient and outpatient service. 2 AOD consultants for support.
4. Endocrinology – suitable for general medicine trainee or endocrine trainee. 2 on site endocrinologists and 4 diabetes educator positions.
5. Cardiology – recruited as secondment from RAH. Coronary care and stroke unit and cardiology – this is supported by a cardiology advanced trainee, BPTs, junior medical officer and 2 to 3 onsite cardiologists. Cardiology advanced trainee is expected to do some on call evenings/ weekends.
6. Infectious diseases – recruited as secondment from Barwon Health. 3 on site infectious diseases physicians.

All trainees are expected to take on a departmental portfolio and be involved in hospital committees, including but not limited to: BPT exam preparation, teaching lead, newsletter/ communication, procedure support, Quality Use of Medicines Committee and morbidity and mortality.

ASH has strong links with Royal Darwin Hospital and are included in their weekly general medicine teaching program. Sub-specialties offer their won teaching programs (see sub-specialty programs).

Structure of the general medical service

General medicine comprises 4 inpatient teams, staffed by a consultant, registrar, and usually 2 junior medical officers (JMO), with each team having an average of 10-20 inpatients per day.

The teams follow a ‘take day’ model however patients are divided evenly between teams unless a patient is already known to a particular team.

The average number of patients admitted to the service each on-take day is 7 to 15.

The rapid response team of the hospital is the responsibility of the admitting registrar and the ‘on-take’ teams JMO, in conjunction with ICU support.

Additionally, each medical team has a geographic region for which it provides an outreach service.

Each medical team also has its own outpatient clinic, which is attended by the team registrar with the support of the team consultant. General medicine advanced trainees do an extra general medicine clinic weekly, or can negotiate a subspecialty clinic.

Medical team registrars are expected to help one afternoon each week in exercise stress testing.

Specialty terms

Specialty terms are governed by their respective units.

Cardiology, renal, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases and rheumatology are predominantly outpatient-based services, providing a consult service to inpatients. Alcohol and other drugs and palliative care have bed-cards, but also offer inpatient consults and out-patients services both onsite and offsite.

Sub-specialties

• Renal (core and non-core) – suitable for general medicine OR renal trainee. Apply through general medicine OR subspecialty renal pathway
• Palliative care – apply through subspecialty palliative care pathway. Community, inpatient, outpatient and home visit service. 2 palliative care physicians for support and an on-site state of the art palliative care hospice.
• Alcohol and other drugs - apply through subspecialty AOD pathway. Community, inpatient and outpatient service. 2 AOD consultants for support.
• Endocrinology – suitable for general medicine trainee or endocrine trainee. 2 on site endocrinologists and 4 diabetes educator positions.
• Cardiology – recruited as secondment from RAH. Onsite cardiologists. Coronary Care and Stroke Unit and cardiology – this is supported by a cardiology advanced trainee, BPTs, junior medical officer and 2 to 3 onsite cardiologists. Cardiology AT is expected to do some on call evenings/ weekends.
• Infectious Diseases – recruited as secondment from Barwon Health. 3 on site infectious diseases physicians.

How to apply

Applications for training positions are made from June to September each year, but applications and queries are welcome outside this window. You will need to supply:

• Resume;
• cover letter outlining your training goals, aspirations and whether you wish to enter training at the RMO or registrar level;
• names of two physician referees who can assess your potential for the program.

Contact

Jolene Preece, Medical administration, jolene.preece@nt.gov.au

Dr Kirsten Neal, Registrar Recruitment, kirsten.neal@nt.gov.au

Dr Sajan Thomas, Director of Physician Education, sajan.thomas@nt.gov.au

Medical Recruitment, Alice Springs, MedicalRecruitmentAsh.THS@nt.gov.au