A GP can work in a hospital-based setting. Some roles require additional special training.

There is increasing scope for GPs with additional skills and training to work in specialised clinics in hospitals, particularly to help reduce public wait-list numbers, or to perform consults and procedures which need special training, but do not need a specialist in that field to perform.

Hospital-based skills include:

• Paediatrics
• Emergency
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Palliative Care
• Surgical Assisting

Advanced rural skills are specific skills which a GP can learn which meet the needs of a rural or remote population.

These skills may require additional training, and/or experience to practice in the area.

Skills include:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
• Academic practice
• Adult internal medicine
• Anaesthetics
• Emergency medicine
• Mental health
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Paediatrics
• Population health
• Remote medicine
• Surgery

The part-time training options and parental leave available to GP registrars make general practice training flexible and family-friendly.

The flexibility of general practice when it comes to working hours is one of the reasons many people choose it as their career path.

Flexible working hours are ideal for those with children, and can also give registrars the freedom to take up opportunities such as becoming a Registrar Liaison Officer (RLO), or taking on an academic post.

Aboriginal health is part of the training program for all GP registrars.

Training posts in Aboriginal primary health care offer unique and challenging opportunities, and allow prevocational doctors to play a hands-on role in improving access, and preventing and managing chronic disease in Aboriginal communities.

Doctors undertaking general practice training usually spent some time working in rural areas.

Many find the challenging variety of work as a rural GP to be particularly inspiring, and stay on in their communities. As a rural GP registrar, there is a diverse range of presentations to challenge you and opportunities to broaden your clinical skills.

Fellows of the RACGP must undertake Quality Improvement and Continuing Professional Development (QI&CPD).

The college’s program is run over a three-year period during which the minimum requirements of the program must be achieved.

Members of the RACGP receive free access to the QI&CPD program. For non-members, there is an annual fee. Their gplearning website is an interactive GP education platform.

ACRRM members with vocational recognition/registration are required to obtain a minimum of 100 points over a three-year cycle of the professional development program.

The ACRRM Professional Development Program gives fellows and other members of the college reliable access to a program geared to meet the diverse needs of practitioners working in rural and remote Australian communities.

Teaching and research can expand your career path in general practice.

Research enables you to develop valuable skills to take into your clinical work and could act as a stepping-stone towards an academic career.

There is widespread agreement that research in general practice is essential for the improvement of patient health care outcomes.

Teaching and research can expand your career path in general practice.

Research enables you to develop valuable skills to take into your clinical work and could act as a stepping-stone towards an academic career.

There is widespread agreement that research in general practice is essential for the improvement of patient health care outcomes.

Locum GPs fill short-term roles in metro and rural areas.

There are rural locum programs that provide and facilitate short-term locum relief for permanent GPs. These programs often come with attractive remuneration and subsidies (for example, relocation subsidies).

These locum programs are administered by different organisations across the country.

The RACGP Research Foundation and The National Health and Medical Research Council provide GPs with research grants, scholarships and awards.

ACRRM offers Education Research Grants (ERGs) to establish and develop research partnerships.

Training as a GP registrar in the Australian Defence Force offers opportunities and challenges. There is a focus on emergency medicine and similar skills to rural general practice, including self-sufficiency in remote locations.

Working as a Flying Doctor is rewarding and challenging. The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) provides primary health care and 24-hour emergency service to anyone who lives, works or travels in rural and remote Australia in an area of over 7.69 million square kilometres.

The RFDS employs more than 1,400 staff, across 24 bases.

If you are interested in getting out of the practice setting and onto the field, and have a particular bent towards musculoskeletal injuries and exercise medicine, sports medicine could be for you.

You could be providing care for anyone, from elite athletes through to weekend warriors or the non-exercising person wanting to improve their exercise level or deal with an injury.

International medical assistance organisations provide services to travellers and expatriates. Employment opportunities include working on teams recovering and repatriating patients to a medical facility or their home country, practising in clinics that serve expatriate communities and medical leadership positions.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) recognises general practice experience in Australia as being comparable to that in New Zealand for the purpose of training.

This assists with registration, and if you are an Australian citizen you can live and work in New Zealand without a work permit.

Fellowship of the RACGP is recognised in Ireland, Hong Kong and Malaysia. However, some colleges require additional assessment prior to working in those countries.

Aid organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Red Cross and many other organisations need doctors to assist with emergency and ongoing work in communities in need around the world.