COVID-19 - FAQs on anaesthesia exams

In addition to a photo ID, you may be temperature checked and will need to fill out and sign a statutory declaration/ Covid-19 free declaration form that indicates you do not have any symptoms of COVID-19, are not required to be in isolation and are meet the guidelines of the region in which you are attending the exam. In addition you will need to take a Rapid Antigen Test within 24hrs of start time of the exam. This time frame allows you to get a PCR test done, should you get a positive result on your RAT..

ANZCA is following the restrictions and guidelines of each jurisdiction and will be guided by the mask-wearing requirements at the time of the exam. If masks are required, an N95 mask is the preferred option for candidates. Cloth masks are not permitted in an exam.

You are required to do a RAT within 24hrs of the start time of the exam. If you receive a positive RAT but are asymptomatic you can do a rapid PCR to confirm the result.
 
Candidates in their role as medical practitioners, are at the coal face of managing and dealing with Covid-19. Whilst we recognise that you are not required to test for a wide range of activities, bringing a disparate large group of medical practitioners together provides an environment of greatly increased risk for the most vulnerable members of our community from both infection and workforce issues. It is our collective responsibility to act in the best interests of candidates, examiners, staff and the community to provide a practical and safe exam environment

In the event a candidate has had a positive Covid-19 diagnosis in the fortnight prior to an exam sitting they will be permitted to sit / participate even if they still test positive on RAT or PCR the day prior and have had three or more days without symptoms.

They should sign an attestation / statutory declaration detailing their date of diagnosis and that they are currently symptom free.

Should you be unable to attend the exam, please contact the primary or final exam team immediately. If you are Covid-19 positive or a close contact, within your isolation period and your state/region or New Zealand requires you to isolate for a period when the exam is being conducted, your sitting will be postponed or carried over.
 
If this occurs and inhibits your opportunity to sit the written component, the college will allow for a withdrawal from the exam without penalty, and a full refund of fees. Should isolation or a confirmed COVID-19 positive result prohibit you from undertaking the viva during the designated viva exam, the written score can be carried over to the next sitting of the viva exam for that exam. The carry-over of scores in these circumstances is limited to COVID-19 positive or isolating candidates, and only as a temporary measure during the pandemic.

At this stage we plan to hold face-to-face vivas for all candidates at a single venue in Australia as indicated on the ANZCA website. Should inter-state or trans-Tasman travel not be possible, contingency plans will come into effect to run the exam at additional venues.
 

Should inter-state or trans-Tasman travel not be possible, exams will be in a hybrid format using a combination of face-to-face exam stations and videoconference stations in those locations where face to face is not possible.
 

With the medical viva no longer utilising patients in the pandemic, this rescheduling will help ensure all components can go ahead. The final exam medical vivas will be conducted with the anaesthesia vivas on 2-4 June.

The conduct of the medical viva remains the same as has been done in the past without patients.