The AOA Regulations for Selection to the AOA 21 Training Program (Selection Regulations) are reviewed on an annual basis. This year the FTC sought and considered feedback from all members regarding the current selection process. Surveys were sent to all AOA fellows and trainees, and a Selection Review workshop was held to explore ways to improve the selection process. The Selection Regulations for the 2023 intake have now been published.
Below is a brief summary of the main changes in the Selection Regulations for the 2023 intake:
1. Number of allowable attempts
All applicants will be allowed a maximum of four attempts at selection into the AOA 21 Training Program. An attempt is defined as a submitted application accompanied by the relevant application fee. After a third unsuccessful attempt at selection a comprehensive review of the applicant’s performance will be conducted. The applicant will be invited to a counselling session with a member of the AOA Selection Committee (or delegate) to discuss their performance. This session will include a feedback discussion to provide guidance and counselling to the applicant regarding the value of a fourth and final attempt. The decision on whether or not to make a final application will remain the applicant’s.
2. A focus on rural equity and community service
Consistent with the goal of the AOA Strategic Plan, unscored components have been added to the Selection application to gather information on rurality and community service. For example, applicants will be able to outline periods of time they may have spent studying, living or working in a rural area in Australia. Applicants will be able to provide information regarding Australian Military Service, or participation in Humanitarian or Outreach Work.
While these components of the application will not contribute to the CV points, they will be used by the Selection Committee when conducting a final review of applications where applicants have ranked highly enough to be considered for an offer but are considered statistically equivalent.
For the first time, AOA is also introducing a rural training pathway. Applicants who select Queensland as their primary or secondary preference will have the opportunity to indicate an interest in being considered for the Far North Queensland (FNQ) rural training rotation. The FNQ training rotation will involve a QLD trainee spending up to 80 per cent of their training time in rural Queensland.
3. Referee Reports
AOA will continue to collect Referee Reports from each site at which the applicant has worked in the previous two (2) years. In response to overwhelming feedback from the membership for a more multi-source feedback approach to referee reports, whilst the usual orthopaedic departmental report will be collected this will now only represent the feedback of the surgical team. Where non-orthopaedic feedback was previously incorporate in the departmental report, AOA will now also collect targeted reports from non-orthopaedic colleagues at these sites.
For more details, please refer to the Regulations for Selection to the AOA 21 Training Program in Orthopaedic Surgery for 2023.
Should you have any questions about Selection, please don’t hesitate to email selection@aoa.org.au