About the RACGP Rural Generalist Fellowship (FRACGP-RG) training
GPs are an integral part of our rural communities, and the skills they practice depend on the context in which they work and the specific needs of their communities. The term ‘rural generalist’ describes a rural GP who is working to an extended scope of practice with skill sets informed by the needs of the community they serve. Their skills encompass comprehensive general practice and emergency care and required components of other non-GP specialist care in hospital and community settings. Rural generalist medicine is a well-established model of care practiced by many GPs in rural and remote areas across Australia.
“A Rural Generalist (RG) is a medical practitioner who is trained to meet the specific current and future health care needs of Australian rural and remote communities, in a sustainable and cost-effective way, by providing both comprehensive general practice and emergency care, and required components of other medical specialist care in hospital and community settings as part of a rural healthcare team”
Collingrove Agreement, February 2018
Rural Generalist Fellowship
The RACGP’s Rural Generalist Fellowship qualification is a recognised end point for rural generalist training by state and territory rural generalist programs. The Rural Generalist Fellowship is awarded in addition to the vocational Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP). It supports developing and recognizing additional rural skills to broaden local options for safe, accessible, and comprehensive care for Australia’s rural, remote and very remote communities. The Rural Generalist Fellowship gives you the opportunity to develop more emergency medicine skills and procedural or non-procedural skills in the following areas:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
- Academic post
- Adult internal medicine
- Anaesthesia
- Child health
- Emergency medicine
- Mental health
- Obstetrics and women’s health
- Palliative care
- Surgery
- Small Town Rural General Practice
Other additional skills may be considered on application to the RACGP Rural censor as part of an individually designed program. Under the Australian General Practice Training program the combination of both RACGP fellowships (FRACGP, FRACGP-RG) is a four-year (FTE) training program, with up to an additional two years available for leave and extensions for training where applicable. Practising GPs have two years FTE to complete the requirements of the RG Fellowship.
Pre-requisites
- Financial Member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
- Working towards Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) or a current fellow of the RACGP
- Must be enrolled with an RACGP approved training program if training towards FRACGP.
Registrars must choose to train towards FRACGP combined with RACGP's Rural Generalist Fellowship. The Rural Generalist Fellowship offers the greatest benefits when completed over the full period of the training program, with an integrated training plan, well before you start preparing for your FRACGP fellowship exams. Practising GPs may also choose to train towards the Rural Generalist Fellowship. You will need to apply for the rural generalist fellowship.
Overview of training requirements
To be awarded the Rural Generalist Fellowship under the AGPT program, you must have successfully completed:
- 12 months (FTE) hospital training
- 18 months (FTE) general practice training, of which at least 12 months must be in a rural general practice setting (MMM3–7) in a RACGP accredited training post.
- 12 months (FTE) additional rural skills training (ARST) in a RACGP accredited training post
- 6 months (FTE) core emergency medicine training (core EMT) in an RACGP accredited training post
Registrars must choose to train towards FRACGP combined with RACGP's Rural Generalist Fellowship. You can opt-in or out of the rural generalist program at any stage of your training.