THORACIC MEDICINE

Components of Training

Procedural Skills
Essential Procedural Skills
These include fibreoptic bronchoscopy and transbronchial lung biopsy, pleural biopsy and tube thoracostomy. As a guide to the numbers required to gain competence, trainees should aim to complete approximately the following numbers of procedures during their training period:

Bronchoscopies - 200
Transbronchial lung biopsies - 50
Pleural biopsies - 20
Tube thoracostomies - 20

Desirable (Optional) Procedural Skills
These include rigid bronchoscopy, laser bronchoscopy, fine needle aspiration biopsy, transbronchial needle biopsy and intensive care procedures including intubation, central line placement and Swan Ganz catheter insertion.

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Complementary (Elective) Training
The SAC may approve a maximum of one year of complementary (non-core) training which may be spent in related clinical medicine, respiratory research or laboratory work.

Clinical complementary training will normally be restricted to related disciplines such as intensive care, infectious diseases, clinical allergy/immunology and cardiology. Any departure from this principle would require exceptional circumstances for consideration. Complementary training should normally be approved by the SAC before commencement. Retrospective approval of the complementary training will not normally be granted. Training in research will be strongly encouraged. During the period of complementary training ongoing contact with a respiratory supervisor is required.

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Projects or Case Reports
Trainees are expected to:

present (or to be principal author of) at least one paper to a meeting of a national or international society, e.g. Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) or RACP; or

prepare an article accepted for publication by a peer reviewed journal. In general, single case reports will not satisfy this criterion.

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