Psychiatry

Psychiatric registrar training is based on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Fellowship Board Training.

In New Zealand psychiatry registrar training includes a five year period of supervised training and experience in the full range of psychiatric disorders. The organisation responsible for training, standards setting, examinations and qualifications is the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. The specification includes both the formal teaching and clinical components of general psychiatric training.

To be registered within a vocational scope of psychiatry in New Zealand it is expected that you would have training, qualifications and experience equivalent to or as satisfactory as a New Zealand trained psychiatrist. To enable you to assess this answer the following questions.

Checklist

	Tick if you have completed these requirements	Psychiatry Training in New Zealand
	Have you completed a five year postgraduate training programme in psychiatry, which was preceded by two years medical experience post graduation?	Psychiatry training consists of five years (60 months Full Time Equivalents) of supervised experience in an approved training scheme. This comprises a minimum of three years of basic (general) training and a minimum two years of advanced (specialist) training.
	Have you had a variety of clinical placements in hospitals, outpatients clinics and community settings?	The three years of basic training involve a minimum of 12 months supervised experience in adult psychiatry and six months in each of child and adolescent psychiatry. Advanced training is in different subspecialties (such as general adult psychiatry, consultation-liaision psychiatry, psychotherapy, child and adolescent psychiatry or old age psychiatry), with each advanced training program having its own particular training requirements.
	Have you passed appropriate external examinations (including clinical components) in psychiatry?	Basic training has a number of requirements, including specified experience in psychotherapy which is externally assessed through a formal written case history report. External examinations must be passed before moving from basic to advanced training. These comprise written papers, Observed Clinical Interviews (OCIs) with live patients and Observed Structural Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) with simulated patients.
	Have you continued learning in your branch of medicine in formal continuing medical education programmes?	In New Zealand psychiatrists registered within a vocational scope will be required to participate in formal ongoing educational programmes such as the RANZCP Continuing Professional Development Programme. Regular peer review is an important component of this.

Self Assessment

If you cannot answer 'yes' to most of the above questions and demonstrate that your training, qualifications and experience are equivalent to or as satisfactory as that of a New Zealand trained psychiatrist you may not be eligible for registration within a vocational scope of practice in New Zealand.

To see if you meet the requirements for another pathway to registration, return to the registration self assessment checklist and complete the checklist answering no to the question “are you a qualified specialist or do you have a postgraduate qualification“.

If you have been able to answer yes to the above questions, please click here for the application form and for more information on the application process.

For more information about psychiatry training in New Zealand go to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists website.

Psychiatry

Checklist

Self Assessment

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