Comparing study and exam entitlements for doctors in training
Doctors in training, particularly registrars, undertake extensive training and study obligations to enroll in or complete their programs for the colleges. Benefits are not created equal and different states offer doctors different benefits.
"Examinations during career progression can be exceptionally stressful periods of time and employers should prioritise support and access to quarantined study leave at the time they require this leave." - Health and wellbeing of doctors and medical students 2020
Doctors in training, particularly registrars, undertake extensive training and study obligations to enroll in or complete their programs for the colleges. Employers provide various benefits to accommodate the demands and stress of training and specialisation, although these benefits are not uniformly distributed.
Broadly, the current agreements categorize benefits into three main types: allowances, exam leave, and study or professional development leave. These categories are treated differently across agreements, and not all benefits are equally distributed.
Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and Northern Territory provide all four dimensions. ACT and NSW offer study and examination leave, while South Australia only provides examination leave. States offering allowances and leave vary their entitlements based on career stage (resident or registrar). Leave can be fixed or variable, depending on the number of exams, employer discretion, or relevance to training
Northern Territory and Western Australia offer the highest allowances for registrars, exceeding $10,000. However, NT is on the lower end of leave entitlements, with residents entitled to only 5 days of leave and registrars receiving an additional 5 days for exam leave. Victorian doctors have the longest leave available, with 8 days of accruable exam leave, 1 week of professional development leave, and an additional discretionary two weeks.
Western Australia provides its doctors with similar leave entitlements. Notably, Queensland offers 1 day plus 3 days for each exam taken. Thus, a doctor in training completing the RACP exams, both written and oral, might be entitled to 8 days of leave.