Search
170 results matching “how to know whether it is pneumothorax or tension pneumothorax in xray”
-
Our registration application forms include a range of 'fitness for registration' questions. This page will help guide you should you need to make a declaration about any issues that might affect your fitness for registration.
-
Doctors get sick too, and when they do it's important that their illness doesn't interfere with their ability to practise medicine safely. A doctor must always be able to practise medicine without putting patients or the public at risk.
-
A recent change to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 sets a new requirement on all health profession regulators, including the Medical Council. We are now required to publish a policy setting out on when we might make public in some way, information about an order or direction made by us about a doctor.
-
You can apply to access the full medical register, but before you apply make sure you know what information the register holds. Whether your application is approved or not depends on what you want to do with the information.
-
We serve Aotearoa New Zealand by protecting public health and safety. We do this by setting and promoting standards for the medical profession.
-
Every doctor in New Zealand must be registered to practise medicine. If you are not eligible for registration under any other pathway, you must sit and pass the NZREX Clinical, our registration examination.
-
To practise medicine in Aotearoa New Zealand you must be registered and have a practising certificate. There are various registration pathways, depending on your qualifications, training, experience, and whether you intend to work in Aotearoa New Zealand permanently or just for a short time for a specific purpose.
-
Torohia – Medical Training Survey for New Zealand – is here! Doctors in training voices matter. Let's make sure they're heard. Visit the Torohia website to find out more and download the promo kit to help spread the word! https://www.torohia.org.nz/
-
Orthopaedic surgery is the diagnosis and treatment (operative and non operative) of patients with disorders of the musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, ligaments, tendon and peripheral nerves). It includes the management of trauma to the musculoskeletal system and the management of congenital and acquired disorders.
-
If you're not working away from New Zealand but are just taking a break from medical practice, this page outlines what you need to do.
-
This draft statement sets out legal and ethical considerations as a doctor when responding to a medical emergency. It also discusses a number of factors you should consider when you attend to a medical emergency, whether that emergency is within a healthcare facility, or in a non-clinical setting, such as in the community.
-
The Minister of Health has announced two new initiatives targeted at overseas doctors who have passed their New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX) examination in the last five years, allowing them to apply for roles in New Zealand that will lead to full registration as a doctor.
-
Established on 1 July 2022, Te Whatu Ora leads the day-to-day running of the health system across New Zealand, with functions delivered at local, district, regional and national levels.
-
Intensive care medicine involves the diagnosis and treatment of patients with acute, severe and life-threatening disorders of vital systems that are medical, surgical or obstetric in origin, and whether adult or paediatric.
-
If you are thinking about practising medicine in New Zealand, there are many things to consider. This page provides an introduction to medical registration, the healthcare system, getting a job and settling in the country.
-
In some circumstances you can be restored to the medical register if your registration has been cancelled. This page outlines how to apply to be restored to the register.
-
This is an updated draft version of the statement which we're consulting on. Please see the consultation section of our website for more information including how to provide feedback.
-
There is a potential for health-related commercial organisations to influence how doctors practise and the clinical decisions they make. We are reviewing our statement on doctors and health-related commercial organisations and would value your feedback.
-
Health-related commercial organisations share some common goals with doctors: they seek to prevent, control, cure and manage diseases, or physical and mental conditions, and may conduct research to improve and advance health care. However, health-related commercial organisations can also have different and potentially conflicting goals in that generating a profit is often a principal goal whereas a doctor’s primary concern must always be the care of patients. This statement outlines our expectations when doctors interact with health-related commercial organisations, and provides guidance on recognising, assessing and managing conflicts of interest (including perceived conflicts of interest) that may arise.
-
The professional services a doctor can perform in New Zealand are defined by the scope of practice for which they are registered.
-
Whether you're Māori or non-Māori, you are welcome to visit a Māori health provider. What makes their care different from a non-Māori health provider is the kaupapa (principle) and delivery framework, which is distinctively Māori.
-
All international medical graduates (IMGs) registered in a provisional general, provisional vocational and special purpose scope of practice must be supervised. This is to support their practice while they become familiar with the New Zealand health system and the expected standard of medical practice.
-
The Medical Council has today launched Torohia – Medical Training Survey for New Zealand, a new survey designed with the profession, for the profession, to better understand doctors’ experience of postgraduate training.
-
This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates who have successfully completed their internship in Australia and want to register within the General scope of practice.
-
Did you know over 70% of doctors registered in the past year were trained overseas — bringing skills from 63 countries to Aotearoa. But to truly strengthen our health system, it’s not just about recruitment — it’s about supporting doctors to stay.
-
Most international medical graduates (IMGs) registered within a provisional general, provisional vocational, or special purpose scope of practice will need to submit a supervision plan with their application. The Council will consider the proposed supervision plan as part of the application process.
-
How you apply for a practising certificate will depend on whether or not you are already registered in New Zealand, if you have worked in New Zealand before, and how long it has been since you last practised. If you already hold a practising certificate, please see our page on renewing your practising certificate instead.
-
Māori experience disparities in outcomes compared to the rest of the population across nearly all areas of health due to inequity in determinants of health, including access to quality health care. This document outlines Council’s position on how doctors can support the achievement of best health outcomes for Māori. It also provides guidance for healthcare organisations to support cultural safety and Māori health equity. This document should be read in conjunction with Council’s Statement on cultural safety.
-
The Medical Council of New Zealand |Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa today released the results of its 2025 Workforce Survey, showing continued growth, more diversity, and important shifts in the medical workforce.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand is inviting feedback on proposals for how PAs should be regulated in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
The Council offers two clinical supervision courses for clinical supervisors and prevocational educational supervisors. The courses supplement training that supervisors receive from training providers and medical colleges. Courses are available to all supervisors through the ePort platform.
-
Medical Council Chair Dr Rachelle Love responds to the final report from the Abuse in State Care Royal Commission Inquiry.
-
Council is pleased to publish its revised statement on Treating yourself and those close to you (previously Providing care to yourself and those close to you), in effect from 14 October 2024.
-
The International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today with the World Health Organization in a ceremony in Geneva.
-
Prevocational medical training for interns incorporates aspects of the apprenticeship model of 'learning on the job’ as part of a team. Senior doctors supervise and assess the interns’ performance, providing them with ongoing feedback and gradually increasing their responsibilities.
Prevocational medical training for interns in PGY1 and PGY2 is overseen by prevocational educational supervisors and clinical supervisors.
-
Internal medicine involves the diagnosis and management of patients with complex medical problems which may include internal medicine, cardiology, clinical immunology, clinical pharmacology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine, haematology, infectious diseases, medical oncology, nephrology, neurology, nuclear medicine, palliative medicine, respiratory medicine and rheumatology.
-
Council is reviewing the core ethical standards it sets for the profession, ensuring the standards reflect both patient expectations and the realities of clinical practice. As part of this work, we have sought feedback from patients and doctors and have now released two reports that reflect their views.
-
We are pleased to announce that we are increasing capacity to sit the NZREX Clinical across 2025, and plan to be able to examine up to 180 candidates over the course of 2025.
-
If a doctor has an issue with their own health, wherever possible we try to help them to remain in practice while it is being resolved. That said, our primary objective is to protect the health and safety of the public - which may mean that the doctor will be unable to practise safely, or will be limited in what they can do, until they are well enough to fully resume practice.
-
The special purpose visiting expert scope of practice enables doctors to come to New Zealand to proctor, demonstrate, assist or teach a new or existing procedure to New Zealand practitioners for a maximum of one week.
-
A Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) is an investigatory body appointed by the Council. Its purpose is to investigate matters and concerns referred to it by the Council about a registered doctor. Although a PCC is appointed by the Council, it is separate from the Council, and regulates its own procedures.
-
This page outlines how the process of renewing your practising certificate works and what to do if your certificate is about to expire and you haven't heard from us.
-
VOC1 (specialist) registration is for doctors who hold an approved New Zealand / Australasian postgraduate qualification and already hold registration in the General scope of practice.
-
As part of ongoing work to ensure that registration policies are fit for purpose and enabling, Council is reviewing its orientation, induction and supervision guide. The current guide has been in place for several years. With the evolving nature of supervision, now is an appropriate time to review and revise it.
-
You cannot work outside the requirements of your scope of practice and any requirements set by Council specific to you. These are shown on your practising certificate. If you are registered within a provisional general, provisional vocational or a special purpose scope of practice, you need our approval of any change to your employment, supervision, position or location.
Once we've received and approved your variation application we will issue you a new practising certificate. -
Certificates of professional status (COPS) are documents used by medical professional regulators to share information about whether a doctor is in good standing. Doctors applying for registration, restoration or returning from practising outside New Zealand need to provide us with certificates of professional status.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand has today released the results of the first Torohia — Medical Training Survey for New Zealand , giving new insights into the experiences of doctors in training across the motu.
-
The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (The Tribunal) has asked us to publish a summary of its recent decisions. You can access the full decision on their website at the links provided.
-
If you, as an international medical graduate (IMG), apply for vocational registration and your application is successful, you will have to complete a provisional vocational registration period. You'll work under supervision for this period, during which we make sure you're competent to practise independently in your chosen field of medicine.
-
This dashboard page contains information around how long doctors remain in New Zealand after their initial registration.
-
This dashboard page contains information around international medical graduates, doctors who obtained their primary medical qualification outside of New Zealand.
-
An audit of medical practice is a systematic, critical analysis of the quality of a doctor’s own practice, the results of which are used to improve clinical care and/or health outcomes, or to confirm that current management is consistent with the current available evidence or accepted consensus guidelines.
-
Our Health Committee acts for Council when health problems affect a doctor’s ability to practise safely. Referrals come from doctors themselves, or worried colleagues. We ensure patients are protected while the doctor gets appropriate help.
-
If you want to work as a specialist in New Zealand, hold the approved New Zealand/Australasian postgraduate qualification, but do not already hold general registration, you can apply down the VOC2 pathway.
-
This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates wanting to register within the Provisional General scope of practice to complete their internship.
-
This page contains important information on approved qualifications, the information to include with your application, and other things that may affect your application for registration in a vocational scope.
-
Once a doctor successfully completes prevocational medical training and has received registration within a general scope of practice, a doctor is then eligible to enrol in a vocational medical training programme. Doctors undertaking this training are referred to as trainee doctors, and are usually employed as registrars.
-
Medical practitioners registered within the General scope of practice (or the Provisional General scope of practice, which precedes it) are typically resident doctors, resident medical officers (RMO) and doctors undergoing vocational training.
-
Regardless of your scope of practice, the basic process for registration as a medical practitioner in New Zealand is as outlined here.
-
Any doctor applying for registration in New Zealand must be fit for registration and fit to practise medicine. It's a legal requirement on us to ensure they are. We determine this as part of our assessment of your application for registration.
-
Special purpose postgraduate training registration is available for doctors looking to come to New Zealand on a temporary basis, to gain experience and skills to take back to their home or sponsor country.
-
Supervision is a registration requirement for all doctors registered in a provisional general, provisional vocational or special purpose scope of practice. Supervision supports a doctor’s practice and enables their performance to be assessed while they become familiar with the New Zealand health system and the expected standard of medical practice.
-
The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA) requires us to specify the scopes of practice within which doctors are permitted to practice, and to describe and define the boundaries of each.
-
If you trained and qualified as a specialist outside of New Zealand and Australia and wish to work in New Zealand as a specialist you can apply based on overseas training and qualifications and we will assess your case on its merits.
-
Occupational medicine involves the study and practice of medicine related to the effects of work on health and health on work. It has clinical, preventive and population based aspects.
-
The Performance Assessment Committee (PAC) is made up of two medical members and a lay member. The PAC can assess a doctor’s performance at any time.
-
Medical administration is administration or management utilising the medical and clinical knowledge, skill and judgement of a registered medical practitioner, and capable of affecting the health and safety of the public or any person.
This may include administering or managing a hospital or other health service, developing health operational policy, or planning or purchasing health services. Medical administration does not involve diagnosing or treating patients. -
Urgent care medicine (formerly known as accident and medical practice) is the primary care of patients on an after-hours or non-appointment basis, where continuing medical care is not provided.
-
Special purpose registration is a temporary form of registration, for specific purposes. It is not a pathway to permanent general or vocational registration. Entry on the Register is cancelled after a fixed time period.
-
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health is the agency responsible for the proposal and consultation on the regulation of physician associates under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. The Medical Council made a submission during the Ministry’s consultation on the proposal in December 2023 (as did a number of other organisations) and is awaiting the Ministry’s release of the outcome. The Medical Council cannot advise on when this information will be released by the Ministry.
-
Urology is the diagnosis and treatment (operative and non operative) of patients with disorders of the urinary tracts in males and females, and male genital organs. It also includes the management of trauma to these organs and the management of male sterilisation, infertility and sexual dysfunction.
-
Doctors who hold overseas qualifications and who want to apply for registration in Aotearoa New Zealand must have key documents verified from their primary source. Since November 2017, Council has required primary source verification using the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates’ Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (ECFMG’s EPIC) service, which is now accessed via the MyIntealth portal.
-
We sometimes require that a doctor has a chaperone present to observe their consultations with patients. We do this to mitigate risk to the patient where there are concerns that the doctor poses a risk of harm or serious risk of harm to the public. This is different from when a chaperone is present as a matter of good medical practice.
-
We sometimes require that a doctor has a chaperone present to observe their consultations with patients. We do this to mitigate risk to the patient where there are concerns that the doctor poses a risk of harm or serious risk of harm to the public. This is different from when a chaperone is present as a matter of good medical practice.
-
As a doctor, you have an obligation to be respectful and professional as your behaviour may affect how a health team functions, how care is delivered to patients, and the public’s trust and confidence in the medical profession. If you have concerns about the conduct, competence or safety of a doctor’s practice, you should notify the Medical Council.
-
You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have a primary medical degree from the UK or Ireland and have completed your internship within the UK or Ireland.
-
Whenever you use a health or disability service in New Zealand, you are protected by the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights (Code of Rights). The Code of Rights applies to both public and private facilities, and to both paid and unpaid services. It gives you as a patient, the right to be treated with respect, receive appropriate care, have proper communication, and be fully informed so you can make an informed choice.
-
You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have an overseas specialist qualification on our approved list, and have a job offer to work in New Zealand for 12 months or less.
-
Special purpose research scope of practice is for doctors who come to New Zealand temporarily to undertake research. This special purpose scope is available for a maximum of two years and practise is restricted to research approved by a formally-constituted ethics committee in New Zealand.
-
Sport and exercise medicine is the medical care of the exercising individual, including the assessment and management of patients with musculoskeletal injuries and medical problems arising from sporting activity. Sport and exercise physicians possess expertise in general medicine, orthopaedics and rehabilitation, plus allied sport sciences including nutrition, biomechanics, exercise physiology and sports psychology.
-
Council is pleased to announce that from 1 November 2024, international medical graduates (IMGs) with an approved postgraduate medical qualification, intending to practise in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine, can apply for specialist registration via a new fast-track registration pathway.
-
One of the ways the Council helps doctors to stay competent is by requiring them to participate in recertification programmes. Regular practice review (RPR) is one part of this continuing professional development.
-
Vocational registration is a form of permanent, specialist registration which allows you to work independently in New Zealand.
-
Our consultation regarding the strengthening of the accreditation framework for prevocational medical training is now open. We invite your feedback.
-
There are two special purpose scopes of practice which enable us to react to emergencies and unpredictable situations or disasters and pandemics. The specific requirements and length of registration depend on the event, and are determined by the Council when required.
-
If you hold an approved postgraduate medical qualification from the UK, Ireland or Australia and intend to work as a specialist in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine, you can apply via the VOC4 fast-track pathway.
-
Physician Associates (PAs) must always work under onsite supervision, whether they are registered in the PA Provisional or PA General scope of practice. This means that they must not be rostered to practise solo in any healthcare setting. The primary supervisor for all PAs must be a vocationally registered doctor.
-
The Medical Council of New Zealand, in partnership with Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa (Te ORA), has released an independent research report outlining findings on the current state of cultural safety and health equity delivered by doctors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
Find out how to keep us up to date with changes to your information including your name, employment, and addresses.
-
Graduates of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools and doctors who have sat and passed an approved medical registration examination, including the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical) complete prevocational medical training.
-
The special purpose teleradiology scope of practice enables doctors without the recognised New Zealand or Australasian qualification to provide teleradiology services for patients in New Zealand.
-
The Medical Council of New Zealand will protect and safeguard personal information and treat it with the utmost care, respect and discretion. This includes all personal information collected online.This privacy notice applies to personal information that we collect through this website: www.mcnz.org.nz
-
It is the Council’s role to ensure that the quality of training programmes offered by providers of prevocational medical training is of a high standard. Information on accredited prevocational training providers and the Council’s accreditation standards can be found here.
-
Public health medicine is the epidemiological analysis of medicine concerned with the health and care of populations and population groups. It involves the assessment of health and health care needs, the development of policy and strategy, the promotion of health, the control and prevention of disease, and the organisation of services.
-
It is Council’s role to accredit and monitor specialist training providers and to promote medical education training in Aotearoa New Zealand. Council assesses Aotearoa New Zealand-based vocational medical training and recertification providers against these standards.
-
General practice is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence base and clinical activity, and a clinical speciality orientated to primary care. It is personal, family, and community-orientated comprehensive primary care that includes diagnosis, continues over time and is anticipatory as well as responsive.
-
A notification around concerns about your health is different from one about conduct, and our approach to dealing with it it is non-judgmental and focuses on your rehabilitation and the safety of patients and people you come into contact with.
-
Ophthalmology involves the diagnosis and management of patients with abnormal conditions affecting the eye and its appendages, including prevention of blindness, promotion of eye health and rehabilitation of patients with visual disability.
-
Graduates of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools and doctors who have sat and passed an approved medical registration examination, including the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical) complete prevocational medical training.
-
Between accreditation cycles, the Council monitors prevocational medical training and Aotearoa New Zealand vocational medical training and recertification providers through progress and annual reporting. For medical schools and Australasian vocational training and recertification providers (medical colleges) monitoring is led by the Australian Medical Council, in partnership with the Council.
-
Plastic and reconstructive surgery is the diagnosis and treatment (operative and non operative) of patients requiring the restoration, correction or improvement in the shape and appearance of the body structures that are defective or damaged at birth or by injury, disease, growth or development. It includes all aspects of cosmetic surgery.
-
This dashboard page contains information around Māori and Pacific Peoples doctors in the medical workforce including breakdowns by age, gender, and work role.
-
If you have concerns about a registered doctor, you can refer the matter to the Council.
-
This area of our site contains detailed information about the medical workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
Emergency medicine is a field of practice based on knowledge and skills required for the prevention, diagnosis and management of acute and urgent aspects of illness and injury affecting patients of all age groups with a full spectrum of undifferentiated physical and behavioural disorders.
-
Council is delighted to report that in October 2024 we received Toitū carbonreduce programme certification in line with ISO 14064-1:2018 and Toitū requirements.
-
Council requires all doctors in PGY2, to satisfy the requirements of a programme ordered by Council under section 40 of the HPCAA.
-
If you are planning on leaving New Zealand to practise in another country, its medical regulator may ask you for a certificate of professional status (COPS) from us. Your registration is not affected by your decision to practise overseas but you must ensure that we hold current contact details for you.
-
Vascular surgery is the diagnosis and treatment (operative and non operative, including endoluminal techniques and interventional procedures) of patients with disorder of the blood vessels (arteries and veins outside the heart and brain) and the lymphatic system. It also includes the management of trauma and surgical access to the vascular system.
-
Radiation oncology is the medical care and management of patients with cancer and other medical conditions through the conduct and supervision of radiation treatment, advice and provision of palliative and other supportive care, and advice and provision of other non-surgical cancer; advice and provision of other non-surgical cancer treatment including cytotoxic, hormonal and other drug therapies; participation in clinical trials and research related to cancer management.
-
The Council and the Australian Medical Council (AMC) work together on accrediting the vocational medical training programmes offered by Australasian (joint Australian and New Zealand) vocational providers. If the applicant provider is seeking recognition in Australia (as an Australasian training provider), or if the scope is already recognised in Australia, stage 3 will be led by the AMC, with Council making a decision based on the AMC’s assessment.