Medical students and interns across Australia are hoping for a swift and positive resolution to bring an end to the ongoing ‘training crisis’. For a “who’s who” guide to speakers at the summit, click here. 

NSW Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner is set to play host to various medical and health training experts and ministers at the National Medical Intern Summit on Friday the 22nd of February.  The summit is a direct result of last years ‘intern crisis’ which almost saw up to 180 …

Wondering what the National Medical Intern Summit is all about? Here’s our ‘who’s who’ guide to the presenters to help get you started. Don’t forget to follow #interncrisis on Twitter for updates on the summit.

Minister Jillian Skinner
NSW Minister for Health

Appointed as NSW Minister for Health and Minister for Medical Research on April 3, 2011. Skinner faced considerable criticism last year when NSW initially refused the commonwealth government offer to create additional internships in exchange for increased investment by the states and for her statement suggesting …

In response to the 182 unmatched interns, Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek offered to fund 100 private internships if the remaining were funded by the states. Five State Governments (WA, NT, QLD, ACT and NSW) worked with the Commonwealth on this to create an additional 116 intern positions in those states and territories.

The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) funded 90 positions in private hospitals, while the state governments funded the remaining 26 positions in public hospitals. Positions funded by the DoHA come with an agreement …

The Honorable Dr Andrew McDonald, the Member for Macquarie Fields, Shadow Minister for Health, and Shadow Minister for Medical Research has read a letter from a student about the #interncrisis on the floor of the NSW Parliament to show his support for the campaign. You can view the video above or click below to read the transcript in Hansard.

Hansard Transcript (NSW Parliament Website)

Please send an email thanking Dr McDonald for his support. His email is macquariefields@parliament.nsw.gov.au. With support from Coalition Senator Fiona Nash in the Federal …

Australia is facing a critical shortage of doctors and nurses. To try and plug the gap we’re importing foreign trained doctors and nurses.  Meanwhile, new Australian-trained medical and nursing graduates are being prevented from completing their training resulting in an onslaught of health graduates who are unable to qualify to work in Australia. Until the State and Federal governments work together to develop a comprehensive national plan to address training shortfalls, Australia will continue to produce health graduates who cannot work in our health system.

Australia …

Channel 10′s The Project featured a story on the internship crisis on Thursday the 9th of November. The story featured AMSA President James Churchill, AMA President Steve Hambleton and the stories of students Marina Guirton & Sean McIsaacs.

Click here to view the video at The Project (NB: story starts at 0:40)

Amid Australia’s ongoing doctor shortage, the health system risks losing dozens of Australian-trained, foreign-born doctors because of a shortage of intern places. The Australian Medical Students Association estimates the system needs 182 intern places to ensure all international students can finish their medical training and gain full registration as doctors.

These intern, (or post-graduate year one) places, are based in hospitals, which are run by the states. But the Commonwealth also bears some funding responsibility for medical training. The Commonwealth, state and territory health ministers are expected to …

A lack of intern places is clouding the future of medical students and graduates, but what’s the solution?

Two very different disasters dominated my Twitter feed last week.

One was Hurricane Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm”, as it battered the east coast of the US. The other was the intern crisis affecting Australian-trained medical graduates, which is whipping up fears among medical students across the country.

About 155 international students are set to miss out on an internship in 2013, and there are warnings it is just the tip of …