GUIDANCE IN PREPARING FOR THE ANZCA FELLOWSHIP EXAM
A GENERAL APPROACH TO PREPARATION
General comments
- Plan your study schedule ahead of time to match the timeframe you have available (ideally 12 months)
- Try to match your local tutorial timetable and your rotations where possible
- Plan ahead for interruptions (breaks, ‘catch-up’ weeks, job applications) and enough time for revision
- Practice answering SAQs alongside covering the curriculum content throughout the year
- When revising a section of the curriculum, start by covering topics/curriculum points that have been previously examined in the SAQs as the priority for each topic – these are heavily repeated areas
- If you have time remaining out of the time allotted for the section, any remaining curriculum points can be covered
- Practice answering MCQs throughout the year, but focus on moving them to short-term memory in the last couple of months
- Anaesthesia viva preparation can be left until after the written with enough time to develop an adequate technique
The one year study plan
The following is a rough guide as to how much time to spend on each theme within the ANZCA curriculum in your preparation, if a roughly 12-month study schedule is planned
Break weeks - 2 weeks
'Catch up' weeks - 3 weeks
Airway management - 2 weeks
General anaesthesia/sedation - 1 week
Regional anaesthesia - 3 weeks
Resuscitation/trauma/crisis management - 5 weeks
Pain medicine - 2 weeks
Perioperative medicine - 5 weeks
Intensive care medicine - 1 week
Safety & quality 1 week
Professionalism 2 weeks
Cardiac, interventional cardiology - 1 week
General surgery, urology, gynaecology, endoscopy - 1 week
H&N, ENT, dental, ECT - 1 week
Neurosurgery, neuroradiology - 1 week
Obstetrics - 2 weeks
Ophthalmology - 1 week
Orthopaedics - 1 week
Paediatrics - 2 weeks
Plastics, reconstructive, burns - 1 week
Thoracics - 1 week
Vascular, interventional radiology - 2 weeks
Fellowship applications - 1 week
Written revision, MCQs - 6 weeks
WRITTEN EXAM
Anaesthesia & medical viva preparation - 6 weeks
ANAESTHESIA & MEDICAL VIVA
USEFUL RESOURCES
Written exam resources
- SAQs matched to anaesthesia topics updated 2023-2 (xlsx)
- SAQs according to year updated 2023-2 (xlsx)
- SAQs according to pass-rate (<50%) updated 2023-2 (xlsx)
Medical viva resources
Anaesthesia viva resources
Opening scenarios
- Key concerns
- Patient assessment
- Telephone call
Management scenarios
- Anaesthetic management
- Regional anaesthesia technique
- Pain management
- Remote location
Crisis scenarios
- Troubleshooting
- Crisis management
- Trauma management
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Closing scenarios
- Critical incident/debrief
- Inadequate resources
- New hospital
- Professional conflict
- Bullying and harassment
- Impaired colleague
- Notifiable conduct
- Trainee with difficulty
- Formal complaint
- Personal health
- Support networks