Overview
The faculty is changing its assessment activities in accordance with best educational practice and moving towards adoption of a modified programmatic assessment route in alignment with requirements of the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ).
Programmatic assessment allows trainees the time and feedback on their performance to develop the professional capabilities necessary to be skilled specialist pain medicine physicians of the future, in contrast to single, point-in-time assessments that determine progression, for example, the traditional “long case assessment”.
There will be a suite of seven EPAs introduced over 2027 and 2028 with the faculty preparing to introduce five of the seven into training in 2027.
EPAs at a glance - video series
This short video series below provides a practical introduction to EPAs and how they support workplace learning and assessment.
Read the below article for an in-depth understanding of the transition arrangements and implementation timeline for introducing EPAs into the FPM training program from 2027.
Other pages you might be interested in
Seven EPAs will be introduced across 2027 and 2028. This page explains what EPAs are, why they are being introduced, how evidence will inform supervision and progression decisions and what the approach means for trainees, supervisors and fellows. You can also view the four draft EPAs here.
Trainees must successfully complete at least one local long case assessment and one external long case assessment during the training program. Both assessments use the same marking form. To achieve a pass the trainee must demonstrate proficiency at the level of a specialist pain medicine physician in their first year of practice.
Our pain medicine training program is a two-year post-specialist qualification that leads to fellowship of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists with the post nominals FFPMANZCA.