Curriculum/Training Handbooks
The College offers five training programs dependent upon entry qualification and experience.
- Fellowship of the RCPA for medical graduates
- Fellowship of the Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine
- Fellowship of the Faculty of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
- Fellowship of the Faculty of Science, for science graduates
- Post-Fellowship Diplomas, for existing RCPA Fellows who wish to pursue a sub-speciality
Discipline-specific handbooks for each program can be downloaded from this page. They contain detailed information on learning outcomes, activities and assessment. They must be read in conjunction with the RCPA Trainee Handbook - Administrative Requirements, which contains essential information relevant to all programs.
Important notice:
There will be some significant changes to the medical (except Clinical Forensic Medicine) and dental trainee handbooks in 2021. These have been approved by the Board of Education and Assessment, subject to consultation with RCPA Fellows and Trainees.
The changes are designed to align with AMC and MCNZ accreditation standards for our curricula. They are intended to provide clear definition of expectations of trainees as they progress through training, particularly with respect to the ‘non-technical’ domains including professionalism, communication, leadership and scholarship. They are expressed as milestones at the levels of:
- Foundation: first year of training
- Core: mid program/part 1 level
- Transition to Fellowship: end of program standard
The current domains of Laboratory Management; Research and Scholarship; and Professional Qualities for all disciplines will be replaced by the domains and outcomes shown in the milestone matrices. All outcomes will be assessable, as set out in the included assessment matrices (shown in the second tab of each spreadsheet). At this stage, the milestones will not apply to the discipline-specific curriculum outcomes.
There are two versions. One applies to the laboratory-based disciplines and is essentially the same for all. There may be some customisation of wording for each discipline as applicable. The other version applies to Forensic Pathology and Forensic Odontology.
The College welcomes any comments on these matrices until the end of September 2020. They will then be finalised and incorporated into the new handbooks for 2021. Please provide your feedback in this brief survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Curriculum_milestones, or send your feedback or enquiries to education@rcpa.edu.au.
Download links:
Fellowship of RCPA for Medical Graduates
From January 2019 the Fellowship in Anatomical Pathology no longer requires training or assessment in autopsy. Trainees who wish to have evidence of competency in autopsy are required to undertake a separate Autopsy Certificate.
Clinical Genetics and Genetic Pathology Reciprocal Training Arrangement Guide
This guide has been developed by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPA) to provide trainees and supervisors with advice on how to complete Advanced Physician Training in Clinical Genetics concurrently with training in Genetic Pathology.
For RACP related queries, please go to Clinical Genetics and Genetic Pathology Reciprocal Training Queries
Further details can be found here
The Faculty of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology offers training for two fellowships. The Fellowship in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology is open to registered dental practitioners in addition to medical graduates.
The Fellowship in Forensic Odontology involves the application of extensive dental-specific knowledge to legal and criminal issues and is open to registered dental practitioners. Forensic Odontology is a new discipline for the College having called for founding fellows in 2013. The College currently has accredited training sites in Sydney and Melbourne. Please direct any queries to registrar@rcpa.edu.au
Fellowship by examination discipline specific Handbooks are below.
Post-Fellowship Diploma in Cytopathology
Currently under review
Post-Fellowship Diploma in Dermatopathology
Post-Fellowship Diploma in Forensic Pathology
Post-Fellowship Diploma in Neuropathology
Post-Fellowship Diploma in Paediatric Pathology
The Training and Assessment Pathway will be offered for those who do not meet RPL requirements, but who require upskilling in molecular/genomic methods within their discipline. Requirements for this pathway will be fulfilled through attainment of competency, rather than by a defined training time, with appropriate supervision and both formative and summative assessments. If you wish to undertake in the Training and Assessment Pathway or require further information regarding this pathway, please contact the College at genomicsupervision@rcpa.edu.au.
Anatomical Pathology
Chemical Pathology
Haematology
Immunopathology
Microbiology
From January 2019 the Fellowship in Anatomical Pathology no longer requires training or assessment in autopsy. Trainees who wish to have evidence of competency in autopsy are required to undertake a separate Autopsy Certificate.
The Autopsy Certificate handbook describes pathways to certification in three categories of certificate: perinatal, paediatric and adult.
The Certificate may be done either during Fellowship training in Anatomical or General Pathology or as a post-Fellowship certificate and will be available for:
- New entrants from beginning 2019 and
- Current trainees who have not already done the formal autopsy assessment
Please email any queries to
bea@rcpa.edu.au
The College has instituted the Certificate in Forensic Medicine (Cert For Med) as a qualification for candidates not eligible for the Fellowship or Post-Fellowship Diploma in Forensic Pathology. The Certificate in Forensic Medicine is set at a standard below that of Fellowship and of the Diploma in Forensic Pathology, to provide some assurance of competence and analytical ability in the major areas of forensic pathology. An updated version of the Trainee handbook will be available in the future.