What can we offer you: 

About the role: 

Canberra Hospital is a modern 600 bed hospital and the major tertiary teaching hospital for the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding NSW region, serving a population of 1.0 million. The annual surgical caseload is over 19,000.

The Canberra Hospital has positions for up to 34 Registrars and at least 4 Senior Registrars. The Senior Registrar positions are equivalent to Provisional Fellow positions and are pre-approved by ANZCA.

The Department of Anaesthesia, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management at Canberra Hospital provides a comprehensive range of clinical anaesthesia services for all surgical specialties outside of solid organ transplant and major burns. This includes cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, upper GI, orthopaedic surgery, ENT, vascular surgery, maxillofacial surgery, urology and paediatric surgery along with an active preadmission clinic, and an acute and chronic pain management service. The hospital has 24 operating theatres (including a dedicated MRI neuroanaesthesia suite) and a 36-bed intensive care unit.  The new clinical services building, which includes 22 new state-of-the-art operating theatres, opened in August 2024. In addition, the Department of Anaesthesia services several out-of-areas requirements for general anaesthesia or sedation, such as gastroenterology, interventional cardiology, respiratory and brachytherapy.

The Canberra Hospital is the principal teaching hospital of the Australian National University (ANU) School of Medicine and Psychology and has well established research links to the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU as well as to the University of Canberra.

This position will have access to National Capital Private Hospital, Calvary John James Private Hospital and Calvary Bruce Private Hospital, all of which are ANZCA-accredited satellite sites.

The positions available are:

• Perioperative anaesthesia
• Obstetric anaesthesia
• Anaesthesia and hepatobiliary and Upper GIT surgery
• General

More specific information is available below on each of the sub-specialty positions.

This position will be required to provide general anaesthetic services to a wide variety of specialties in a busy anaesthetics department and at times supervise junior trainees. 

This position is required to participate in the after-hours roster, including rostered after-hours shifts, weekends, night shifts and on-call.  It is expected that the on-call requirement will help the transition to consultant practice.

Successful applicants are expected to participate in education and quality improvement projects within the department.

Perioperative medicine

Perioperative medicine is an emerging subspecialty within anaesthesia, as the importance of patient centred perioperative care has become a focus. The department runs specific consultant led high-risk preoperative assessment clinics to assess suitability for surgery and achieve patient optimisation.  Involvement in these clinics will be central to this position.  There will be scope for the successful applicant to anaesthetise and participate in the postoperative care of some of these patients. 

For interested senior registrars there is provision to gain some experience in transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). We are accredited for training in the Chapter of Perioperative Medicine course.  This option can be explored by individuals who are interested in this pathway.

Obstetric

The obstetric anaesthetic trainee will be provided with ample exposure to routine and complex obstetric cases in a busy tertiary department with close to 4000 deliveries per year. The trainee will function as part of a multidisciplinary team providing excellent care to women and their families at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. They will have the opportunity to participate in teaching and supervision of junior trainees, to be involved in quality improvement activities, and to pursue subspecialty areas of interest.

Hepatobiliary and upper GI surgery

The Canberra Hospital provides anaesthesia for a variety of complex open and laparoscopic upper GI surgery including Ivor-Lewis Oesophagectomy, Liver resection, Bariatrics, Pancreatectomy, Adrenalectomy and Gastrectomy. The trainee will participate in all aspects of care for these patients. This 12-month position consists of six months hepatobiliary and Upper GI and six months general.

Anaesthesia (General)

The Department of Anaesthesia, Perioperative Medicine and Pain management at Canberra Hospital provides anaesthesia services for general, hepatobiliary, orthopaedic, cardiothoracic, ENT, paediatric, vascular, maxillofacial, urology and neurosurgery, as well as medical imaging, angiography and electrophysiology studies.  The trainee will get broad exposure across these areas with the potential to develop specific interests as opportunities arise.