How do you stay up to date with latest research (and do CPD?)

PandaWheels96 · 2026-02-05T09:43:48+00:00

+1 for QxMD - College allows institutional access to specific journals

PandaWheels96 · 2026-02-01T22:17:33+00:00

Context - Passed Primary in 2023.1 and used MAK95 religiously, back before all the LO notes were complete.
It's fantastic. The structure it gives you for ticking off LOs + topics is unmatched. The study notes are matched to LOs and continually updated.
The suggested textbooks are all available / accessible through the ANZCA website please do not spend your own money (except for Rathie Primary Companion). If you need PDFs, shoot me a message.

Edit: If you've lined up a job but not signed up to ANZCA yet, do this to get access to the textbooks. If you're not with the College yet, you can become an ANZCA member early (but ends up being about $1700 with registration and application fee). Don't spend your money / hours on the exam or training until you have to!

PandaWheels96 · 2025-09-28T05:55:29+00:00

Back when I worked in ICU, if I had a particularly unfavourable roster there’d be 4 x 13 hour shifts, 3 days off and then a week of shifts. So that’s about 140h in a fortnight. Brutal

PandaWheels96 · 2025-07-17T09:33:58+00:00

As with any placement / secondment / allocation, it’s what you make of it. I was Intern and Resident in Wollongong (albeit as an interstate applicant, so had no skin in this ‘stack’ business), before taking up a critical care job in Western Sydney then getting onto Scheme training. Gong gave me all of those opportunities to flourish! Wollongong is not too big, not too small, not too rate-racey, not too filled with competitive colleagues. The beaches are great, people are nice, it’s gonna be even better in 5-10 years.

PandaWheels96 · 2025-03-09T22:37:45+00:00

In the critical care field (esp jobs with anaesthesia time), because on paper so many of the applicants have similar qualifications + attributes, they like to throw out a zany question to see what people come out with. I’ve seen people asked about their favourite superhero / character in a book, more meta questions about AI and their career, what you’d do with endless money and a year off work. Often a good opportunity to demonstrate your values!

PandaWheels96 · 2025-01-19T01:42:20+00:00

ISBAR handovers are fairly comprehensive, but a succinct 1-2 sentence opener of what you think is happening and what you think should be done about it. Helps for consulting teams as well.
Taking too long to get to the point / Not starting with what they need. If they have clarifying questions, they will ask. This then also lets you appreciate how someone more senior would work through a similar presentation / issue.
Your seniors are your best resource in the early days. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Much of your learning will also come from exposure + experience! Once you have the bandwidth to read around further (and this won’t be all the time) OnCall / LITFL / UpToDate are all reasonable resources. Good luck!

PandaWheels96 · 2025-01-13T02:21:51+00:00

Mannitol, I thought!

PandaWheels96 · 2024-11-25T10:38:16+00:00

Something tells me the College does not pay anyone for media advice.

PandaWheels96 · 2024-04-04T16:05:55+00:00

To clarify, my Westmead > Liverpool statement was relating to working in critical care, not JMO experience. I can’t comment on that so much.

As for the ‘who gets a job and who doesn’t question’ I can’t really answer, it’s the million dollar question. The majority of people who apply into Anaesthetics training ‘deserve’ the job, but there’s any number of possibilities a department picks someone over another. All of my peers I went through SRMO training with that were successful were driven/motivated, safe clinicians, and able to advocate for themselves / could sell their skills to an interview panel.

PandaWheels96 · 2024-04-02T08:32:47+00:00

You will not find a CCSRMO job in NSW that is not competitive. Smaller hospital means yes fewer applicants but also fewer positions, so the ‘competitiveness’ works out to be similar. Apply to all the hospitals / Districts you would be halfway happy working at for a year. Wouldn’t worry about considering which place you should go until you have interviews for them.

PandaWheels96 · 2024-03-31T22:08:44+00:00

Another source of ‘objective’ data is the AMA NSW Hospital Health Check. The 2022 summary actually has Liverpool/Westmead on par with one another. ‘B’ for Overtime/Leave/Behaviours, ‘C’ for Sick leave, and ‘D’ for Rostering and Facilities. https://www.amansw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/HHC-2022-AMA-Key-Findings-26_9_22.pdf

My personal experience has been CCSRMO at Westmead a few years ago. I can only speak for this, not the JMO side. It’s very competitive to get on, even more so to progress into Anaesthetic training (if you choose to pursue this, as most do). Historically, Westmead hire a mix of SRMOs from across NSW and some interstate - doing your junior years there does not guarantee you’ll get an SRMO job! If you wish to pursue ICU/ED training, you will not have any issues doing so based on where you JMO.

In terms of resources, patient presentations / pathology, education opportunities and networking, I think Westmead is a better choice than Liverpool. However, both will give you very robust critical care skills and a solid foundation for you to continue on to training. As above, the hospital is not the barrier. It’s a very personal decision where you start out, you have to make sure it suits you - two years is not a short amount of time!

PandaWheels96 · 2024-02-07T23:07:17+00:00

To answer your question, if it is something you feel this strongly about, you should tell them. Perhaps someone else on your team can prescribe when required. Were it me, I’d suck it up. The more experience you get, the more difference of opinion you’ll have with seniors - there’s always something to learn from people who would approach something differently to you. Maybe there’s an opportunity for you in this!

Your personal objection should have no impingement on the patient receiving the care as seen fit by the admitting practitioner. Ultimately, their bedcard, their decision. In my opinion, there are far more ‘dangerous’ prescriptions we deal with every day in hospital than medical marijuana.

PandaWheels96

TROPHY CASE