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General Information
Advanced
Training Projects in Australia
Some SACs/JSACs require that a project
report is submitted during advanced training.
Trainees are advised to
read the individual requirements of their chosen SAC/JSAC for more information
for submission of projects. Requirements may differ in Australia and New Zealand.
Trainees, including paediatric trainees under another SAC/JSAC, may or may not
be required to complete projects.
Trainees, where required, must complete
at least one project before the end of the second year of advanced training in
order to progress to the third year. This also applies if one project report is
required for all 3 years of training. This does not apply to trainees in respiratory
and sleep medicine who should refer to the guidelines for training in those specialties.
The Objectives of Projects in Advanced
Training
Most trainees will probably have had the opportunity to appreciate
critical appraisal of the literature by attending and presenting at Journal Clubs.
Many will have a working knowledge of statistics acquired from short or long university
courses, books and access to computer packages. However, many have not had the
opportunity of writing a scientific paper or report.
The College strongly
supports the practice of EBM, integrating individual clinical expertise with the
best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. The practice
of EBM is a process of life long, self-directed learning in which patient care
creates the need for clinically important information about diagnosis, prognosis
and therapy.
By planning and writing a clinical or basic research paper,
trainees should achieve:
- the ability to conduct a literature review
using electronic searching techniques e.g. Medline, Pubmed, Cochrane Library,
and to perform critical appraisal of literature;
- the ability to identify
an important health or research question and to clearly identify specific aims
of a study designed to address the question;
- development of a working
knowledge of study design, data collection, data storage and analysis techniques,
computer skills, statistical and graphic techniques so as to be able to plan and
execute a research project;
- development of skills in scientific writing
so as to be able to apply for grant support and publish scientific and medical
papers;
- an understanding of how research should and could contribute to
the practice of EBM;
- development of an understanding of ethics in
research;
- the ability to convert information needs into answerable
questions;
- the ability to track down, with maximum efficiency, the
best evidence to answer the questions;
- the ability to critically
appraise the evidence for validity and usefulness;
- the ability to
apply the results of this appraisal to clinical practice;
- development
of the skill of evaluating one's own performance.
Supervision for Projects
Each project is undertaken under supervision.
Trainees and supervisors should fully discuss the topic, data collection methods
and evaluating the data. Supervisors should also ideally review the project at
least twice before submission to the SAC/JSAC.
Preparing and Presenting Projects
Trainees
should allow a minimum of 150-200 hours of time to complete an advanced training
project when a single project is required. The nature of employment as a busy
clinical registrar means that finding this time during the normal week is not
always possible and takes a high degree of organisation. A project is likely to
take shape in stages over a period of many months and requires consistent application
in order that a project will be completed in time for assessment by the SAC/JSAC
at the end of the year. An employer will not always be in a position to grant
trainees a period of annual or study leave to meet a deadline for completion of
a project.
Successful completion of a project requires completion of
the following stages:
- selection of a topic/area to study;
- decision
making about how to collect data for the study;
- collection of the
data;
- evaluation of the data;
- review of the literature
on the topic;
- the first draft write-up;
- review by supervisor
and revision - it is highly desirable that trainees and supervisors allow for
review of the project by the supervisor at least twice prior to submission to
the SAC for assessment;
- process of supervisor reviewing and discussing
revision of the project; this is likely to take several weeks;
- final
formatting and presentation.
On completion of all the work for
the project, it is important to try and have it peer reviewed. Some trainees may
be able to do this prior to submitting the project. This is not a compulsory requirement
but, having put the effort in, it is advisable to try and have the project presented
or published in an appropriate forum. This may occur in the form of a presentation
at a scientific meeting of the College in Australia or New Zealand. Alternatively,
it may be submitted to a scientific journal for consideration for publication.
A recommended forum for presentation is the ASM of the College or another
scientific meeting. For the College/Division Scientific Meeting there is a Call
for Abstracts and there are often awards or prizes for which a presentation may
be eligible. Information on such matters can be obtained from the College office
in Australia and the College office in New Zealand or the RACP News.
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