Postgraduate Year 1

Current Data

In 2013, there were 3,118 trainees commencing PGY1. Of these, just over half (52.6%) were females (Table 3.1).

Just over four-fifths (2,533 or 81.2%) of all PGY1 trainees commenced training in the state or territory in which they completed their medical degree. A further 253 trainees (8.1%) were trained in Australia, but commenced their PGY1 training in another state or territory.

International students who graduated from an Australian medical school occupied 290 (9.3%) of the PGY1 positions. The number of PGY1 positions in each state and territory approximately matched the distribution of the population as a whole (which can be seen in the following chapter in Table 4.14).

The Commonwealth agreed to provide one-off funding for additional medical intern positions jointly with participating states and territories for 2013 under the Additional Medical Internships 2013. As domestic medical students are guaranteed an internship by states and territories under a 2006 Council of Australian Governments agreement, these positions were targeted to eligible international full-fee paying medical graduates who completed their degree in Australia and had not yet been offered an intern place in 2013.

Table 3.1: Commencing postgraduate year 1 trainees or supervised training positions: Total, females and proportion of females by doctor category and state/territory, 2013

	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS	NT	ACT	Aust
All commencing PGY1 trainees
(a) Includes PGY1 positions funded by the Commonwealth Government under the Additional Medical Internships Initiative 2013. (b) Includes 5 graduates of an Australian Medical Council Accredited Overseas University (Malaysia). (c) Includes 1 female graduate of an Australian Medical Council Accredited Overseas University (Malaysia). (d) Includes 2 graduates of an Australian Medical Council Accredited Overseas University (Malaysia). (e) Data were provided by WA state government. Source: Australian Government Department of Health and state and territory government health departments
Australian trained local (own state)	806	611	567	195	235	61	0	58	2,533
- Commonwealth-supported	739	611	512	193	235	56	0	58	2,404
- Full-fee paying	67	0	55	2	0	5	0	0	129
Australian trained local (interstate)	73	20	52	17	35	8	38	10	253
- Commonwealth-supported	63	20	na	16	35	3	38	10	185
- Full-fee paying	10	0	na	1	0	5	0	0	16
New Zealand medical graduates	1	0	0	4	3	0	1	2	11
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by states/territories	43	76	58	60	25	5	5	18	290
- Own state	43	(b)76	57	35	15	3	0	9	238
- Interstate	0	0	1	25	(d)10	2	5	9	52
Australian Medical Council graduates	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	5	9
Total state/territory funded trainees	923	707	678	276	300	75	44	93	3,096
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by the Commonwealth(a)	2	..	8	..	9	..	..	3	22
Total	925	707	686	276	309	75	44	96	3,118
Proportion of total trainees (%)	29.7	22.8	21.8	8.9	9.7	2.4	1.4	3.0	100.0
Females
Australian trained local (own state)	422	310	271	114	138	30	0	40	1,325
- Commonwealth-supported	389	310	241	113	138	28	0	40	1,259
- Full-fee paying	33	0	30	1	0	2	0	0	66
Australian trained local (interstate)	46	11	28	8	21	4	26	9	153
- Commonwealth-supported	39	11	na	8	21	2	1	4	86
- Full-fee paying	7	0	na	0	0	2	0	5	14
New Zealand medical graduates	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	4
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by states/territories	26	42	29	28	11	2	2	5	145
- Own state	26	(c)42	28	16	8	0	0	0	120
- Interstate	0	0	1	12	(c)3	2	2	5	25
Australian Medical Council graduates	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	5	8
Total state/territory funded trainees	494	363	329	152	173	36	29	59	1,635
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by the Commonwealth(a)	na	..	na	..	(e)6	..	..	na	na
Total	494	363	329	152	179	36	29	59	1,641
Proportion females (%)
Australian trained local (own state)	52.4	50.7	47.8	58.5	58.7	49.2	0.0	69.0	52.3
- Commonwealth-supported	52.6	50.7	47.0	58.5	58.7	50.0	0.0	69.0	52.4
- Full-fee paying	49.3	0.0	54.5	50.0	0.0	40.0	0.0	0.0	51.2
Australian trained local (interstate)	63.0	55.0	53.8	47.1	60.0	50.0	68.4	90.0	60.5
- Commonwealth-supported	61.9	55.0	0.0	50.0	60.0	66.7	2.6	40.0	46.5
- Full-fee paying	70.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	40.0	0.0	0.0	87.5
New Zealand medical graduates	0.0	0.0	0.0	50.0	33.3	0.0	100.0	0.0	36.4
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by states/territories	60.5	55.3	50.0	46.7	44.0	40.0	40.0	27.8	50.0
- Own state	60.5	55.3	49.1	45.7	53.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	50.4
- Interstate	0.0	0.0	100.0	48.0	47.4	40.0	66.7	55.6	48.1
Australian Medical Council graduates	0.0	0.0	100.0	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	88.9
Total state/territory funded trainees	53.5	51.3	48.5	55.1	57.7	48.0	65.9	63.4	52.8
International students who graduated from an Australian medical school and were placed by the Commonwealth(a)	na	..	na	..	66.7	..	..	na	na
Total	53.5	51.3	48.5	55.1	57.9	48.0	65.9	63.4	52.6

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Trends

The number of PGY1 commencements continued to increase, with 875 additional interns (39.0% increase) commencing their training in 2013 compared with 2009 (Table 3.2).

The increases in prevocational training over the period of 2009 to 2013 appear to be considerably greater in some jurisdictions, namely in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory where the number of trainees commencing their first year of the prevocational training increased by 63.0%, 52.7% and 50.0% respectively.