Position overview

Canberra Health Services (CHS) is focussed on the delivery of high quality, effective, person-centred care. We provide acute, sub-acute, primary and community‐based health services, to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and surrounding regions. More information can be found on the CHS website.

Canberra Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a tertiary level, mixed adult ICU that admits over 2500 patients a year.  Our ICU is accredited by the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM) for two years of core training and for the sub-specialities of Trauma, Cardiothoracic, and Neurosurgery.

We have a team of supportive Intensive Care specialists with a diverse range of skills and experience that provide both clinical and non-clinical support to our trainees.

Canberra Hospital’s ICU has accreditation by the CICM for two years of general training including neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery and trauma ICU. We have a strong educational focus as well as a well-established research program providing opportunities to participate in multi-centre national and international trials as well as home grown research.

The transition year career medical officer fellowship position at Canberra Hospital ICU aims to fulfil the training requirements of CICM’s final 12 months of its intensive care training program (also known as the Transition Year). It is a transitional fellowship year between that of a phase 2 trainee to a junior specialist, with flexibility and graded responsibility to allow increasing clinical autonomy and responsibilities including directing patient management, supervising, and managing the multidisciplinary clinical team, collaborating with other multi-specialty clinicians, and providing first on call cover whilst being supervised with an immediately available intensivist. This position will be part of the specialist clinical roster and will have support and supervision from a dedicated intensivist to mature in that role.

The role will allow the candidate to develop higher skills in education, critical care echocardiography and ultrasound, research and administration aligned with the CICM requirement for the transitional year training. You will be expected to contribute to activities such as leading and coordinating the education program for junior medical staff (including journal club and echocardiography teaching), assisting with trainee CICM examination preparation, facilitating local delivery of courses such as BASIC, beyond BASIC, Canberra ICU Course, Canberra Airway Course, Introduction to Procedures in Acute Care (IPAC) and Canberra Critical Care Echo Course. Additionally, you will be supported to undertake external training and gain qualifications within the education, research, or critical care echocardiography domain.

Trainees will have clinical exposure to a broad range of critically ill patients. There will be a graded responsibility to allow increasing clinical autonomy in this formalized transition year role. The case-mix is split between medical and surgical patients with 60% of admissions being unplanned exposing trainees to wide variety of medica cases, post cardiothoracic, neurosurgical, vascular, upper GI, colorectal and ENT surgeries.

The trainee will be provided with a minimum of 15-20% protected rostered hours in which they will fulfill their clinical support duties and pursue one of the portfolios outlined below:

• Research
• Education and simulation
• Ultrasound/ECHO
• Medical administration

It is expected that all appointees will be registered with the CICM and have completed their CICM Part 2 examination. Completion of the project requirement for Fellowship is not required for appointment to this position.

Key responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide competent and efficient clinical management of patients of Canberra Health Services under the supervision and direction of Specialist Medical Practitioners, including acute admissions, in-patient care and procedures relevant to the practice of Intensive Care, attendance and participation in the ICU Medical Emergency Team and ICU referral service, inter-disciplinary consults, and clinical handovers.
• Participate in the specialist clinical roster, share on-call responsibilities with a dedicated intensivist who will provide support and supervision to enable the fellow to mature in their role.
• Participate in the supervision, training and professional development of ICU junior medical staff and undergraduate medical students.
• Demonstrate progress in training in the specialty including participation in the relevant teaching program and activities, timely completion of assessments, involvement in research, contribution to clinical audits and participation in changes that improve the quality and safety of patient care.
• Work within and support the multidisciplinary clinical team.
• Maintain adequate and legible medical records and ensure that the clinical team completes discharge summaries in a timely manner.
• In protected time, fulfill clinical support duties and demonstrate achievement through pursuit of an interest in research, education and simulation, ultrasound/ECHO or medical administration.
• Comply with the policies and requirements of the Medical Board of Australia and the policies of Canberra Health Services. This includes the promotion and application of workplace relations, workplace equity and diversity and workplace safety, and completion of mandatory training.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

About you

CHS is committed to workforce diversity and to creating an inclusive workplace. As part of this commitment, we welcome applications from all diversity groups. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability and people who identify as LGBTQIA+ are particularly encouraged to apply.

Competencies

• The ability to efficiently manage and prioritise their own workload.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to appropriately manage difficult conversations with patients and family members.
• The ability to exercise appropriate judgement under high level pressure.
• High level interest in the teaching of junior medical staff.

Qualifications

Essential

Core intensive care medicine, anaesthesia, and medicine years

• Satisfactory completion of the Second Part Examination
• Satisfactory completion of all prescribed courses, learning packages and WBA.
• Submission of a Formal Project in the format prescribed in the guideline.
• Satisfactory exposure to two out of the three sub-specialties (as defined by the Hospital Accreditation Committee) in: Cardiothoracic surgery intensive care, Neurological / Neurosurgery intensive care, Trauma intensive care.

Candidates must also:

• Hold an Australian MBBS or equivalent
• Be registered or be eligible for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).
• Have competency in the invasive procedures relevant to the practice of Intensive Care Medicine.
• Have currency in an Advanced Life Support Course.
• Satisfactory completion of the required clinical training time and assessments for the core intensive care medicine, anaesthesia, and medicine years
• Satisfactory completion of the Second Part Examination
• Satisfactory completion of all prescribed courses, learning packages and WBA.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• Demonstrated commitment to the maintenance and further development of skills applicable to the area of Intensive Care, including involvement in further education and quality assurance activities.
• Post graduate medical and academic qualifications and experience relevant to the position including successful completion of the Fellowship Examination in the College of Intensive Care Medicine and competence in all the invasive procedures that are relevant to the practice of ICU.
• Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team and provide leadership where required.
• A commitment to the importance and provision of teaching at all levels, including medical, nursing, scientific and allied health professional staff, both postgraduate and undergraduate; and
• Demonstrated understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, work, health, and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.
• Have an understanding of how the National Standards and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Please note prior to commencement, successful candidates will be required to:

• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you require (key selection criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé, experience and referee reports.

1. Demonstrated commitment to the maintenance and further development of skills applicable to the area of Intensive Care, including involvement in further education and quality assurance activities.
2. Post graduate medical and academic qualifications and experience relevant to the position including successful completion of the Fellowship Examination in the College of Intensive Care Medicine and competence in all the invasive procedures that are relevant to the practice of ICU.
3. Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team and provide leadership where required.
4. A commitment to the importance and provision of teaching at all levels, including medical, nursing, scientific and allied health professional staff, both postgraduate and undergraduate; and
5. Demonstrated understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, work, health, and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience. Displays behavior consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.