To be eligible to apply for the Workplace Based Assessment (WBA) Program at Monash Health you have to be a current employee of Monash Health, and have passed the AMC and have recency of practice in at least 4 of the 6 disciplines, and be performing at a level clearly above expectation. Your role must be broad enough to enable assessments in most of the listed disciplines as part of day-to-day work, and your supervisor needs to agree to participation. If you have never worked as a doctor at Monash Health you must work for at least 12 months here before being considered for entry into the program. For the Monash Health WBA program for IMGs a candidate must be working at Monash Health with an appointment as a doctor at HMO level or above, at least 0.4 EFT.

• Performance concerns, particularly in clinical and/or professionalism domains, in the previous 12 months preclude entry to the program. Identified performance concerns need to be resolved prior to selection into the program.
• A candidate is ineligible to join this program if they have been unsuccessful in this or any other WBA program previously.

Essential selection criteria

• Broad recency of practice: roles involving patient care across at least four of the AMC’s six clinical disciplines (adult medicine, surgery, child health, women’s health, mental health and emergency medicine) during the last two years.
• A workplace role broad enough to enable exposure to at least four of the AMC’s six clinical disciplines (above). Many specialty and subspecialty roles are too narrow in scope to facilitate the breadth of exposure required for this program.
• A minimum 3 but preferably 6 months of satisfactory performance at Monash Health with local references stating that performance is above the level of end of internship/ start PGY2 prior to enrolment in the program
• A contract to work at Monash of sufficient length to complete the program (minimum 9 months from program entry)

Completion of Hitting the Ground Running, or a demonstrated understanding of the Australian Health System

• Length of time working at Monash Health, with preference generally given to applicants who have a longer period of employment prior to application
• Previous attempts at the AMC clinical examination. Sitting and passing the AMC clinical exam is likely to be a shorter process than the WBA. If a candidate has been allocated a date within the next several months to sit the clinical examination we would prefer they take that opportunity, and if unsuccessful apply for the WBA subsequently.
• Likely future contribution to the Australian Health System, particularly Monash Health and our surrounding community. Graduates from our program generally progress into training programs within 18 months of completion.
• We look favourably on recommendations from Monash Health unit heads, prevocational unit supervisors and WBA assessors

This program is fee paying. Costs for the program are: $12,000 (plus GST). An amount of $6000 (plus GST) is payable at commencement of the program and then $1000 (plus GST) will be invoiced monthly.

Applicants are also required to pay an administration fee directly to the AMC. If you are accepted onto the WBA program, you will be contacted to pay the appropriate fees.

You can find other accredited WBA programs throughout Australia by clicking here.

Doctors whose primary medical qualifications were obtained in a country other than Australia or New Zealand are known in Australia as international medical graduates (IMGs). For any doctor to practice medicine within Australia, they must be registered with the Medical Board of Australia (the Board). IMGs seeking registration with the Board must undertake assessment of their knowledge and clinical skills via an appropriate pathway. For more information on the assessment pathways click here.

The Standard Pathway is for IMGs who do not qualify for the other assessment pathways and are seeking general registration as a medical practitioner within Australia. IMGs applying for the Standard Pathway should apply directly to the Australian Medical Council (AMC). To be eligible to apply for general registration with the Board under the Standard Pathway, IMGs must meet the Board’s registration standards listed here. To read more, visit the page here.

Please refer to the following sites for more information about WBA http://wbaonline.amc.org.au/

Participation in the MiPreP program does not guarantee future employment with Monash Health. To be eligible for the Workplace Based Assessment (WBA) Program at Monash Health you must be a current employee of Monash Health, have recency of practice in at least 4 of the 6 disciplines, and be performing at a level clearly above expectation. Your role must be broad enough to enable assessments in most of the listed disciplines as part of day-to-day work, and your supervisor needs to agree to participation. You must work at Monash Health for 12 months before being considered for entry into the program.

After you have received clearance from the performance review committee you are required to work at Monash Health at a level clearly above expectation for at least 12 months before you will be considered for the WBA program.

‘Doctors Speak Up” is a multimedia resource that has been developed to address the language and communication needs of international medical graduates (IMGs) working or seeking work in Australia.

www.doctorsspeakup.com

RANZCP Clinical Guidelines

To help psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Best part is they’re a free evidence based resource. The not so good part is that they’re quite lengthy documents so please try not to get too caught up in them.

https://www.ranzcp.org/Publications/Guidelines-and-resources-for-practice.aspx

A Primer of Clinical Psychiatry textbook

This is probably one of the best psychiatric textbooks. A visual of the cover can be found via the hyperlink below but I suggest googling it as the Monash Health libraries are also known to carry an older edition (which is still of great utility).

https://www.elsevierhealth.com.au/a-primer-of-clinical-psychiatry-9780729541572.html

Victorian Mental Health Act 2014

if any of your cases have an element of risk to self or others, you should always be aware of the Victorian legal framework for compulsory treatment. Please don’t read too extensively on this as it’s a very complicated topic. Knowing the correct terminology, your responsibilities and the implications of compulsory treatment for patients should be sufficient.

https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health/practice-and-service-quality/mental-health-act-2014

The Psychiatric Interview by Daniel Carlat

A great book for dealing with difficult/challenging patients even in the absence of mental health symptoms. You can find a copy in most Monash Health libraries. If you can’t I urge you to consider buying a copy. I’ve had other AMC WBA candidates who have purchased it after finding it so useful.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Psychiatric-Interview-Daniel-J-Carlat/9781496327710?ref=grid-view&qid=1524028447068&sr=1-1

Online multi-media resources for: mini-Cex, mental health history taking

Depression: psychiatric interview, University of Nottingham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YhpWZCdiZc

Anxiety: psychiatric interview, University of Nottingham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii2FHbtVJzc

Psychosis: psychiatric interview, University of Nottingham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB28gfSmz1Y

General interviewing skills: psychiatry, University of Melbourne via Coursera

https://www.coursera.org/learn/international-psychiatry/lecture/7nfib/taking-a-psychiatric-history

Geeky Medics Brochures

WBA geekymedics.com-Depression history taking

WBA geekymedics.com-Exploring first rank symptoms in a psychiatric history …

WBA geekymedics.com-Alcohol history taking

Please click HERE to read useful medical resources