Supervising Committee
Specialist Advisory Committee in General Medicine (SAC).

Definition
A general physician is one whose training and expertise enables practice as a consultant in the broad field of internal medicine as it applies to adolescents and adults. General physician practice adopts a specific approach to the patient as a whole person, notwithstanding an interest and training in a particular field. General physicians have a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience which makes them ideally suited to provide high quality specialist services across a spectrum of health and illness which is not limited by the boundaries of medical subspecialties. These capacities place general physicians in an important and responsible position as both clinicians and teachers, particularly where problems are undifferentiated and complex, where there are issues which do not fall within the range of subspecialties and where the integration of interdisciplinary expertise may be required.
General physicians have important linkages with colleagues in many disciplines including general practice, surgery and psychiatry.

General Principles of Training

1. Advanced training in general medicine must conform with the Guidelines for Advanced Training.
   
2. Career training in general medicine involves the formulation and successful completion of a carefully constructed and balanced program approved prospectively by the SAC, aimed at fulfilling the definitions and recognising the need to acquire clinical, teaching, research and administrative skills.
   
3. It is recommended that trainees attempt to plan ahead for the whole three year period, whilst maintaining some flexibility.
   
4. All training programs will include active supervised clinical work in general medicine or in accepted medical subspecialties.
   
5. Programs may be constructed to allow supervision and training for periods in other disciplines such as dermatology and psychiatry.
   
6. Advanced trainees are also advised to obtain a copy of the "Guidelines for Members and Advanced Trainees in General Medicine" published by the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (IMSANZ).
   
7. A maximum of two years may be spent in any one subspecialty.

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