The Gastroenterology Trainee Selection applications open Monday 1 May 2023 and will close on Friday 9 June. The Society hosts and governs this process.
The following statement has been prepared by the NZSG regarding Match:
"Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi”
"With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive”
The New Zealand Society of Gastroenterology aims to develop a workforce that is best able to serve the population of Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe this means selecting a diverse group of trainees including women, men, trainees with rural and metropolitan backgrounds, and trainees with diverse ethnic backgrounds, particularly those of Māori and Pacific Island heritage. We currently have an under-representation of Māori, Pacific Island, female and provincial origin gastroenterologists.
If you are a doctor of Māori or Pacific Island heritage, are female, or grew up in a provincial area of Aotearoa New Zealand, please consider training in gastroenterology and joining us. The Society is committed to and actively working towards making the training programme accommodating to you.
If you are applying to enter advanced training please send your CV and the names of three referees to office@nzsg.org.nz. Please note a reference/ referee report from a practicing Gastroenterologist whom you have worked with should be included in your application if possible.
Please use the CV template as attached here - CV template.
You are encouraged to approach a local gastroenterologist to support your application.
If you need more information, please email the Executive Officer at office@nzsg.org.nz as soon as possible. If required we can assist the trainee to make contact with a local gastroenterologist for a confidential chat about training and what’s involved for a career in gastroenterology.
There is an administration fee of $450 which NZSG will invoice you for after receipt of your CV and referees. For Aotearoa New Zealand this fee is reimbursable as a training expense.
If you are a current advanced trainee, please send your CV including the names of your current and previous supervisor within your CV.
There is an administration fee of $200.00 which NZSG will invoice you for after receipt of your CV and supervisor information. For Aotearoa New Zealand this fee is reimbursable as a training expense.
Fees are necessary to support the process, are a recognised reimbursable cost of training, and should not be a barrier for application. Please contact NZSG if confidential advice separate to the Match process, or a supporting letter from NZSG, are required in order to get these fees reimbursed or to provide awhina (support) through the process.
The Interviews will be held on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 July 2023. Interviews for new applicants will be held at the NZSG Offices in Wellington 26 Brandon Street Level 1. Interviews for current trainees will be held remotely via video conference.
Commitment to equity, including Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Demonstrating your commitment to overcoming inequity, understanding the health needs of tangata whenua, and integrating Te Tiriti o Waitangi into clinical practice is important to demonstrate within your application.
Reach out to a local gastroenterologist early in your training. Local support from within the speciality is helpful within your application process. Include details in your application.
Any experience in gastroenterology and/or endoscopy is good but it is not essential. Don’t fret if you haven’t ever touched a ‘scope. The gastro experience could be audit/research, attendance at endoscopy lists, or having worked with a general physician-gastroenterologist as a house officer or medical registrar. This encourages candidates to seek out experience and exposure to gastroenterology in their career so that they can be sure this is the career pathway for them. Share your experiences with us.
If you have worked in peripheral hospitals in your training, then you are more likely to return there as a consultant. We need Gastroenterologists in our regional centres. Hence, spending 6 to 12 months in one or two smaller regional hospitals is encouraged. This would mean experience as a house officer or registrar in Aotearoa hospitals other than metropolitan Auckland (North Shore/Waitakere, Auckland City, Middlemore), Waikato, Wellington/Hutt, Christchurch, and Dunedin hospitals.
Diversity has a different definition for everyone. We are looking for a group of specialists that reflect the patients we look after, and the teams that we work with. Tell us what diversity means to you and how you work toward diversity.
Research, contributing to meaningful audit, being part of governance structures and working with teams to produce guidelines are an important and an integral part of medical education and training as a Registrar, and as CPD when a consultant. Exposure and contribution to quality research at an early stage in your career is desirable. Share your research with us in your application.
Leadership roles of any sort help prepare a candidate for a career in gastroenterology, a busy and demanding speciality. Teamwork is an essential part of gastroenterology work every day, working with many different colleagues from different disciplines to come together and provide excellent care for patients. Share your past teams’ experiences, your role, and the outcomes with us.
Teaching (delivery or organisation) and being a mentor to others is another key aspect of a career in gastroenterology, and another desirable aspect. IF you have been a mentor or helped others learn skills, please discuss this within your application.
The RACP Education Supervising Committee is the Aotearoa NZ Advanced Training Subcommittee (ATS) in Gastroenterology.
Please go to the RACP website for more details about the curriculum.
RACP Contact: gastroenterology@racp.org.nz
Chair of Aotearoa New Zealand Advanced Training Subcommittee: Dr Maggie Chapman-Ow
Gastroenterology and hepatology are branches of internal medicine (usually practised together) that are concerned with prevention, investigation and therapy of and research into illnesses involving the intestine, liver and other associated organs.
A minimum of 2 years must be spent in full time clinical training positions with responsibility for patient care under the supervision of a trained gastroenterologist. Training should include management of gastrointestinal and hepatological emergencies. A suitable training position should include the care of outpatients (ambulatory care) and inpatients in gastroenterology and hepatology at a training site that provides regular clinical meetings, QA activities and meetings with other departments particularly diagnostic and therapeutic imaging, histopathology and surgical groups.
It is desirable that trainees gain experience and exposure in as many as possible of the following areas:
• gastrointestinal motility disorders, diverticular disease and functional illnesses including oesophageal motility and intestinal transit studies;
• acid-peptic disease;• diseases of the pancreas and gastrointestinal hormones;
• gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders including idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease and disorders caused by infection including those associated with human immunodeficiency;• malabsorption syndromes including breath gas analysis;• gastrointestinal malignancy and premalignant disorders;• disorders of the biliary tract and ERCP;• viral hepatitis;• immunological disorders of the hepatobiliary tract;• drug-induced disorders of the liver and gastrointestinal tract;
• chronic liver disease, portal hypertension and liver biopsy;
• hepatobiliary malignancy;
• gastrointestinal endoscopy and gastrointestinal bleeding;• clinical nutrition;
• alcoholism and drug addiction;
• imaging of the gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary systems including performance of abdominal ultrasound examinations; and
• liver transplantation.
The ATS may approve a maximum of one year of non core (elective) training which may be undertaken in clinical training in other disciplines (e.g. psychiatry, general medicine, immunology, microbiology, etc.), or research. In New Zealand the ATS will prospectively approve, on a case by case basis, only those rotations that are closely related to gastroenterology.
It is desirable that trainees should become proficient in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy with polypectomy. Some trainees will also undertake training in ERCP and endoscopic ultrasound.
Trainees must, in addition to technical proficiency, have a clear understanding of the role of endoscopy in patient management achieved by attendance at radiological and histopathological teaching sessions and relevant operations. Trainees must develop an understanding of the principles and practice of disinfection and sterilization of modern endoscopic instruments. Training in gastrointestinal endoscopy is assessed independently by the Conjoint Committee for Recognition of Training in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (NZCCRTGE), a national committee with representatives of the NZSG, RACP and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).
Trainees are strongly encouraged to undertake a period of supervised research in basic or clinical sciences. All trainees will have to submit a project for assessment during their training period. Training in research can be conducted as a non core period of training and may be part of a research program conducted with the aim of achieving a doctorate (PhD, MD) or other higher degree(s). Up to one year of the 3 years of advanced training may be undertaken in research. Extended periods of research will not be regarded as part of core advanced training in gastroenterology and hepatology.
Any site for advanced training in gastroenterology and hepatology must provide the staff and facilities necessary to provide the content of the training program outlined above. This means that advanced core training will usually be undertaken in a level 3 teaching hospital but other positions will be considered individually and may be suitable for a period of training. Training sites will be visited by a member of the ATS and by a gastroenterologist from another institution at intervals of up to 5 years.