![]() College coat of arms, granted in 1931. | |
![]() Royal Australasian College of Surgeons building, south façade | |
Abbreviation | RACS |
---|---|
Formation | 1927 |
Purpose | Surgery |
Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Location |
|
Region served | Australia, New Zealand & Asia-Pacific region |
Official language | English |
President | Associate Professor Kerin Fielding |
Website | https://www.surgeons.org |
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand.
Known by its common acronym RACS, it is a not-for-profit organisation, supports the ongoing development and maintenance of expertise during the lifelong learning that accompanies surgical practice of more than 7,000 surgeons and 1,300 surgical trainees and International Medical Graduates. In conjunction with the Australian Government, RACS also provides global surgery outreach by supporting healthcare and surgical education in the Asia-Pacific region [1] and is a substantial funder of surgical research.
The RACS is authorised and accredited by the Australian Medical Council on behalf of the Medical Board of Australia, and the Medical Council of New Zealand to conduct training and education of surgeons across nine surgical specialties in Australia and New Zealand: Cardiothoracic surgery, General surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic surgery, Otolaryngology Head-and-Neck surgery, Paediatric surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, Urology and Vascular surgery. Training is administered in conjunction with specialist societies in each of these areas. Successful completion of surgical training with RACS earns the award of Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, denoted by the letters FRACS.
Being a Fellow of RACS (FRACS) requires ongoing learning and maintenance of knowledge and skills demonstrated through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs.
In Australia, specialist registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and Medical Board of Australia as a surgeon is only possible via training with or recognition by the RACS, which has previously sparked controversy over the potential for anti-competitive behaviour. [2] [3] [4]
Procedural medical practitioners with overlapping interests, such as cosmetic doctors, have claimed that the RACS has monopolised surgical training, whilst long-running concerns also exist that doctors without RACS surgical training are misleading and potentially harming the public by representing themselves as specialist surgeons. [5] [6] [7] In Australia, the word "surgeon" alone is not a protected title under law, however misrepresentation as an AHPRA-registered surgical specialist is prohibited. [8] [9]
RACS has been an active supporter of community health initiatives for several decades.[ when? ] This support has been enabled through the contributions of governments, Fellows, Trainees, IMGs and friends of RACS through the Foundation for Surgery, the philanthropic arm of the organisation.
RACS also provides specialist medical education, training, capacity development and medical aid to 18 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Visiting teams and in-country personnel provide clinical mentoring and education to the national medical workforces and deliver train-the-trainer programs.
The college maintains a museum and archive of historic items related to the history of surgery in Australia including instruments, artworks, rare and historic books, and memorabilia. It is open to the public. [10]
The RACS was rocked by a scandal in 2015 when a Sydney vascular surgeon Gabrielle McMullin claimed during a speech that for the sake of their careers it would be safer for female surgical trainees to "comply with requests for sex from their supervisors" than to refuse and report these requests. [11] She later backed these claims with evidence that she had reported sexual harassment of trainees to the college and that the reports were ignored. [12] The original comments were highly provocative and controversial, but prompted a major bullying and harassment investigation RACS that spanned several years. [13] [14] In 2016, the RACS published an official Diversity and Inclusion plan. [15] Fewer than 15% of active Fellows in surgery in Australia are female with a variety of plans to improve representation. [16]
|
General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland. General surgeons also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft tissue, trauma, peripheral artery disease and hernias and perform endoscopic as such as gastroscopy, colonoscopy and laparoscopic procedures.
Urology, also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Organs under the domain of urology include the kidneys, adrenal glands, ureters, urinary bladder, urethra, and the male reproductive organs.
A podiatrist is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for all practitioners of podiatric medicine. The word chiropodist was previously used in the United States, but it is now regarded as antiquated.
Podiatry, or podiatric medicine and surgery, is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US podiatric medical school curriculum includes lower extremity anatomy, general human anatomy, physiology, general medicine, physical assessment, biochemistry, neurobiology, pathophysiology, genetics and embryology, microbiology, histology, pharmacology, women's health, physical rehabilitation, sports medicine, research, ethics and jurisprudence, biomechanics, general principles of orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, and foot and ankle surgery.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the mouth, head and neck, and jaws, as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate surgery.
Residency or postgraduate training is a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician, veterinarian, dentist, podiatrist (DPM) or pharmacist (PharmD) who practices medicine or surgery, veterinary medicine, dentistry, podiatry, or clinical pharmacy, respectively, usually in a hospital or clinic, under the direct or indirect supervision of a senior medical clinician registered in that specialty such as an attending physician or consultant.
A number of professional degrees in dentistry are offered by dental schools in various countries around the world.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is located on Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, centred around the 18th century Surgeons' Hall. The campus includes Surgeons' Hall Museums, a medical and surgical library, a skills laboratory, a symposium hall, administrative offices and a hotel. A second UK office was opened in Birmingham in 2014 and an international office opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2018.
A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients, diseases, skills, or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics), cancer (oncology), laboratory medicine (pathology), or primary care. After completing medical school or other basic training, physicians or surgeons and other clinicians usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple-year residency to become a specialist.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), based in Melbourne Australia, is the primary training body for specialist emergency physicians in Australia and New Zealand. The college is recognised by the Australian Medical Council and Medical Council of New Zealand as such and provides services for approximately 2700 Fellows and 2600 Trainees.
Medical education in Australia includes the educational activities involved in the initial and ongoing training of Medical Practitioners. In Australia, medical education begins in Medical School; upon graduation it is followed by a period of pre-vocational training including Internship and Residency; thereafter, enrolment into a specialist-vocational training program as a Registrar eventually leads to fellowship qualification and recognition as a fully qualified Specialist Medical Practitioner. Medical education in Australia is facilitated by Medical Schools and the Medical Specialty Colleges, and is regulated by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) of which includes the Medical Board of Australia where medical practitioners are registered nationally.
The Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) is an independent professional organisation with the stated aim of promoting excellence in surgical training. It represents over 2,700 surgical trainees from all ten surgical specialities at both regional and national levels in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before specializing in surgery.
In the United States and Canada, there are twelve recognized dental specialties in which some dentists choose to train and practice, in addition to or instead of general dentistry. In the United Kingdom and Australia, there are thirteen.
Raffi Qasabian is an Australian-Armenian vascular surgeon, and secretary of the NSW Regional Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He completed his surgical studies in Australia and gained additional experience in vascular and endovascular surgery during a fellowship year at St Thomas' Hospital in London in 2007. He works at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is also a coordinator of the Surgical Course at the Central Clinical School of the University of Sydney.
John Egan Moulton was an Australian medical practitioner. He was Chairman of the NSW Institute of Sports Medicine at Concord Hospital, team doctor of the Australian national rugby union team and Honorary Secretary of the Council of Newington College. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Moulton was honoured by his nation with the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia for his "service to surgery and medical education particularly in relation to sports medicine."
Ned Abraham was an Associate Professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales and is a general & colorectal surgeon, a clinical academic and a retired Australian Army Reserve Officer. He has spoken at multiple national and international meetings in four continents and his published articles in general, colorectal and academic surgery have been cited in the medical literature close to two thousand times. He continues to practice surgery in Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia.
The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA) is an accredited specialist medical college comprising medical practitioners with specialist training in management and leadership of health services and systems. Fellows of the college combine clinical knowledge, skill, and judgement and apply this at an organisation wide level. This may include administering or managing a hospital or other health service, or developing health operational policy, or planning or purchasing health services. The college is responsible for the training of medical professionals as specialist health leaders in Australia and New Zealand and has responsibility for assessing candidates and awarding the qualification of Fellowship of the college (FRACMA) to medical practitioners.
Ifereimi Waqainabete is a Fijian politician and Member of the Parliament of Fiji who served as Minister for Health and Medical Services in the FijiFirst government from 2018 to 2022. Before entering politics Waqainabete was a general surgeon in Fiji and associate professor of general surgery at Fiji National University, former president of the Fiji Medical Association, president of the Pacific Island Surgeons Association, and former chairman of Fiji Medicinal Board. He was on leave from his academic and surgical duties to partake in the 2018 elections as a candidate for the Fiji First Party.
Gabrielle McMullin MB BCh BAO FRCS FRACS MCh is an Australian vascular surgeon, author and gender equality advocate.