Training requirements and the TPS FAQs

If you have completed all the training requirements of your core unit you will need to complete a core unit review (CUR) with your supervisor of training (SOT). Once your SOT has submitted the CUR in the training portfolio system (TPS), you will need to respond. The TPS will then automatically update you to the next core unit.

Any time spent not in training should be recorded as leave. This includes annual leave, bereavement leave, sick leave, parental leave, study leave, examination leave and industrial action.

You should still record this time as “leave” in the training portfolio system and have this confirmed by your supervisor of training. Any excess leave will not accrue towards the approved vocational training time. If you take more than 12 continuous weeks of leave, you will need to apply for interrupted training.

Public holidays are not counted as leave. When a public holiday falls on a day when you would normally be working, it counts as a clinical day, whether or not you were actually required to work that day.

Time spent completing mandatory courses (for example, the Advanced Life Support course) should be recorded as clinical anaesthesia time in the training portfolio system. Time taken to attend non-mandatory courses, such as exam preparation courses should be recorded as leave.

Supervisors of training or departmental scholar role tutors can access and approve all scholar role activities ion the training portfolio system, except the audit activity which will need to be assessed and approved by the departmental scholar role tutor.

FANZCA nominees can help to do assessments and evaluations of scholar role activities for trainees and automatically get continuing professional development points for evaluating scholar role activities.

After you have completed all volume of practice and workplace-based assessments for a specialised study unit (SSU), you must complete an SSU review with your SSU supervisor.

Once the SSU review has been confirmed by your supervisor of training, the SSU will show as completed on your dashboard.

You might be trying to enter volume of practice (VOP) that was completed during your previous core unit. Once you progress into a new core unit, the TPS locks everything from the past core unit time. You can record the cases as being completed on or after the first day of your current core unit.  

You can find out what the first day of your current core unit was by clicking on “Core unit & PF review” in the navigation bar and then looking at the latest date in the “Core unit end date” column on that table and adding one day.

This usually happens when the MSF is started as a core unit MSF rather than an SSU/intensive care MSF. You can check by finding the MSF in question in the top table on the “workplace-based assessments” screen of TPS and then look in the column called "Training period/SSU”. If that column says IT, BT, AT or PFT then you’ve started a core unit MSF. If it says “intensive care” then you’ve started an ICM/SSU MSF. 

If you have started the MSF as the wrong type, please email the training team ([email protected]) and we’ll be able to change it over for you. We can also change the supervisor of your MSF upon request. 

If your ICM SOT still can’t access your MSF even though they’ve been assigned correctly, it’s most likely because you’ve rotated to a new placement. ICM SOTs can only access trainees who are in a current placement at the same hospital. Normal SOTs however can maintain access to their “past trainees” up to 52 weeks after they’ve left their hospital. 

Yes. Please send the training team an email and we will merge them. Please note it will take a few days to be actioned as it needs to be done manually. 

We can change the competency of the WBA between each type (including SSU), however, we cannot change the WBA type once it has been recorded. For example: we cannot change a DOPS to a CBD, but we can change an arterial cannulation-DOPS to fibreoptic intubation-DOPS or an SSU-DOPS and vice versa. 

If the WBA you want to change has the “pre-filled” status then we can change it with a request from you. 

If the WBA status says anything else, then the SOT or WBA assessor listed will need to email us and request the change in competency. 

Please note that once you have initiated a WBA, you will need to prefill all of the data fields up until the trainee-self assessment rating section, before handing it over to your WBA assessor. The WBA status will remain as “pre filled” until the WBA assessor makes any comments and this will change to “In progress”, where you will no longer be able to edit the WBA.  

Your SOT can confirm up to 13 weeks before any time recorded prior will become locked in TPS. This will also apply to any time recorded in a previous core unit. If time is locked, your SOT can still confirm this through the “Bulk Confirm Time” tab in TPS. Alternatively they can email the training team at [email protected] requesting us to confirm on their behalf. 

Your SOT can also confirm up to four weeks in advance to prepare for the submission of your core unit review. 

The ICM SSU is unique in TPS because it’s the only SSU that doesn’t get signed off through the SSU review screen. TPS will tick off the ICM SSU as complete once these three things are entered and completed in TPS: 

• At least 11 weeks of “OCT – Intensive care medicine (ICM)” time recorded and confirmed in TPS over a 13-week period. The other two weeks can only be more OCT-ICM time or leave.
• The intensive care MSF completed in TPS.
• An intensive care planning and feedback CPR completed in TPS.

The best order/timing to enter the ICM SSU requirements is: 

1. Time entered and confirmed as worked.
2. ICM planning CPR confirmed within the first four weeks of the placement.
3. ICM MSF completed before starting the ICM feedback CPR. This includes the trainee responding to the MSF.
4. ICM feedback CPR completed. Please note the ICM feedback CPR cannot be submitted in TPS until the ICM MSF/step 3 is completed.

Note: Your ICM SOT does not need to wait until you have finished your ICU term to sign off the ICM-SSU. The SSU-MSF can be completed as soon as you have received the minimum required responses (seven), and the ICM feedback CPR can be completed within the last four weeks of your ICU term. 

This will be happening because the ICM MSF is not at the status “completed” in TPS yet. You can see the MSF’s status on the workplace-based assessments page in the top table.  

• If the status is “awaiting trainee response” the trainee will need to login to TPS and respond to the MSF for it to be completed.
• If the status is “in progress”, “initiated by trainee” or the ICM MSF is not listed at all, then an MSF will need to be completed in TPS before it will appear in the CPR.

There are two requirements for a SOT to have access to an MSF in TPS: 

1. The correct SOT needs to be listed as the “supervisor” in the MSF itself.
2. The trainee whose MSF is being completed needs to be in a placement, in TPS at the same hospital as the SOT.

2a. Or the trainee needs to have just finished a placement at the same hospital as the SOT within the last 6 weeks. 

If the wrong person is listed as the SOT or you haven’t been in a placement at the SOT’s hospital within the last 6 weeks, then email the training team and we can change over the listed SOT or give your old SOT temporary access to the MSF.  

Your SOT will need to do a “core unit review” (CUR) to trigger the progression into the next core unit. This is separate to a “clinical placement review” (CPR). 

There are a few reasons to apply for interrupted training: 

• If you won’t be working for a period of 13 weeks or longer for any reason.
• If you are working at a training site for longer than its accreditation limit allows.
• If you are working at a hospital that’s not an accredited training site.
• If you’ve already used up your allowance of other clinical time (OCT) and are still working in a specialty classed as OCT time. For example, if you’re in basic training (BT) or advanced training (AT) and have used up the 38-week OCT allowance and are still working in the intensive care unit then you will need to apply for interrupted training for the remaining time you’ll spend working in the ICU.
• If you are in extended training (any core unit) and are not working as an anaesthetist
  1. If you still need to complete the ICM SSU then you may count 13 weeks of ICU time towards training while in extended training to complete the ICM SSU.

You can sit both exams within the first 52 weeks of interrupted training. 

Note: you need to meet all the usual eligibility criteria that a non-interrupted training trainee would need as well. 

Yes, as long as you: 

• Submit your interrupted training application within four weeks of starting interrupted training.
• Your interrupted training is at least 13 weeks long.

You’ll still need to submit an interrupted training application (the sooner the better). Depending on how late the application is, you might not receive a fee reduction or refund but applying for interrupted training is the only way to accurately fill in the gap in training in TPS. You won’t be able to progress to the next core unit or fellowship until all gaps in training are accounted for. So, it is still worth submitting an interrupted application even if its late/very late. 

Once your interrupted training application has been approved, our finance team will be notified to issue you a partial fee refund for the months of interrupted training. Your annual training fee (ATF) will be reduced for this period, and you will be charged a pro-rata of the registration maintenance fee (RMF) instead. You will be refunded the difference between the ATF and the RMF for your interrupted training period. You can find more Information of anaesthesia training fees under “2025 Annual fees”.

You will only get a refund for the interrupted training time that’s in the current year. The interrupted training time in the following year will be factored into your annual training fee invoice when it’s sent out and you’ll pay a reduced annual training fee then. This means if you apply for interrupted training towards the end of the year then you’ll only be eligible for a small refund. But your annual training fee for the following year will be substantially lower if there’s a substantial amount of interrupted training taking place in that year. 

You can: 

• Sit exams within the first 52 weeks of interrupted training.
• Complete scholar role activities.
• Complete courses.

Your SOT will still have access to your TPS records and be able to submit/signoff things for the first 52 weeks of interrupted training. After that they’ll lose access. 

You will not be able to respond to anything that’s submitted to your TPS records while in interrupted training. If you want to finalise some assessments in the TPS while in interrupted training, please wait until your SOT has completed all the sign offs. Then you can contact us, and we can temporarily give you TPS access to respond to any completed assessments. 

You will not be able to record any clinical time or volume of practice during interrupted training. 

Yes, you can. You need to be working at least 0.5FTE or more, and contribute to both elective and acute care.