Training and career options
Basic training
To become a paediatrician in Australia, you are required to undertake a minimum six-year training program.
The training program, delivered by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), will see you complete your first three years of Basic Training in Paediatrics and Child Health.
Basic Training focusses on developing core skills and knowledge, introducing each of the disciplines and provides a foundation for consolidation and further study with Advanced Training.
Advanced training
Upon completion of your Basic Training, you can select from a variety of Advanced Training programs that will allow you to specialise in a specific specialty area of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Your Advanced Training program will take approximately three years to complete.
Where could a career in Paediatrics and Child Health take you?
Some of the areas which you can specialise in Paediatrics and Child Health include:
- Clinical Genetics
- Community and Child Health
- General Paediatrics
- Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine
- Paediatric Cardiology
- Paediatric Clinical Haematology
- Paediatric Clinical Immunology and Allergy
- Paediatric Endocrinology
- Paediatric Gastroenterology
- Paediatric Infectious Diseases
- Paediatric Medical Oncology
- Paediatric Nephrology
- Paediatric Neurology
- Paediatric Emergency Medicine
- Paediatric Palliative Medicine
- Paediatric Rehabilitation Medicine
- Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep Medicine
- Paediatric Rheumatology
You may decide that you want to specialise in more than one specialty area, and so you can choose to undertake multiple Advanced Training programs depending on your areas of interest. It’s not uncommon for paediatricians to be dual trained in General Paediatrics and Paediatric Endocrinology, for example, so you have the ability to expand your learning and create different career paths based on your interests and experience.