Frequently Asked Questions
Medical Training Survey results will provide a snapshot of medical training in Australia, through the eyes of doctors in training. Survey data will be used by employers, colleges, educators and others to strengthen medical training.
By getting anonymous feedback from doctors in training, the survey will deliver robust national data that will help identify strengths in medical training, as well as potential issues so these can be addressed. It’s about quality improvement.
Aggregated results data will:
- promote better understanding of the quality of medical training in Australia
- identify how best to improve medical training in Australia, and
- identify and help deal with potential issues in medical training that could impact on patient safety, including environment and culture, unacceptable behaviours and poor supervision.
The idea for the Medical Training Survey came from doctors in training, educators and employers, who all wanted accurate data about the state of medical training in Australia.
The Medical Training Survey is supported by doctors in training, jurisdictions, specialist medical colleges, postgraduate medical councils, Australian Medical Association, Australian Medical Council, Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, Doctors’ Health Services, Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, Medical Council of NSW, Australian Private Hospitals Association and the Australian Medical Students’ Association. All these stakeholders have contributed to the development of the survey and the policies around the administration of the survey.
The Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra are funding and organising the survey, which is being run independently by research agency, EY Sweeney.
Yes.
Doctors in training helped design the Medical Training Survey from the beginning. There are four doctors in training on the Consultative Forum, and two on the Steering Committee.
Other doctors in training have helped by testing the survey questions. We wanted to make sure the questions were easy to understand, written clearly and that survey answers would properly capture the experience of medical training in Australia. Doctors in training were great at telling us what we had missed, what worked well and what we needed to improve.
You can read the survey questions here.
There are five versions of the survey, tailored to different groups of doctors in training.
There is a survey each for interns, prevocational and unaccredited trainees, specialist trainees (non-GP), specialist GP trainees and international medical graduates.
The MTS asks questions about your training program and training post. In the case of specialist trainees, it asks about your interaction with your College. The survey includes questions about your supervision, access to teaching, workplace environment and culture and your wellbeing.
The questions in the MTS draw on topics and issues covered in existing surveys from Colleges, employers and the AMA.
There are different versions of the survey to reflect the particular training environment of doctors who are at different stages in their training. For example, while there are some similarities in the questions that we ask interns and accredited trainees, there are also marked differences in their training environment that are reflected in the survey.
Doctors in training are called different things in different states and territories and we are trying to capture all the terms in this national survey. For example, hospital medical officer and resident medical officer are generally the same type of doctor in training. Some of the terms are industrial in nature.
By answering the questions, you will be diverted to the correct version of the survey.
Doctors in training can do the survey on their phone, tablet or laptop in two ways:
- interns and international medical graduates just click on the survey link sent in the email invitation from Ahpra (search your inbox for Ahpra or email heading: Medical Training Survey)
- all other doctors in training can do the MTS when they renew their medical registration.
Just follow the prompts after renewing your registration and doing the workforce survey, which is different from the Medical Training Survey. The Medical Training Survey will appear after you pay your medical registration. If you can’t complete the survey when you renew, Ahpra will send you a unique survey link embedded in your confirmation of registration email.
The survey has been designed to use minimum possible bandwidth.
If you can’t fill out the survey because of connectivity problems, please contact our dedicated survey phone line on 1800 983 160. Our survey phone line is staffed during business hours and logs messages for after-hours help.
Or contact the helpdesk by email at medicaltrainingsurvey@au.ey.com.
Your answers will help strengthen medical training in Australia. Aggregated results will provide a snapshot of the quality and experience of medical training in Australia through the eyes of doctors in training.
The 2023 MTS results will build on previous years’ results and continue to create a comprehensive, national picture of the strengths and weaknesses of medical training across states, territories and medical specialties in Australia. Results will identify current strengths and provide a baseline for ongoing improvements.
The more trainees doing the survey, the better the quality of the data.
Your answers will help strengthen medical training in Australia.
Results will provide a snapshot of the quality and experience of medical training in Australia through the eyes of doctors in training.
The 2023 MTS results will build on data collected since 2019 and continue to create a comprehensive, national picture of the strengths and weaknesses of medical training across states, territories and medical specialties in Australia. Results will provide a baseline for ongoing improvements and identify current strengths.
Read how organisations are using results to drive improvement in medical training by clicking here.
All doctors in training in Australia. This includes interns, hospital medical officers, resident medical officers, non-accredited trainees, postgraduate trainees, principal house officers, registrars, specialist trainees and international medical graduates. Career medical officers who intend to undertake further postgraduate training in medicine can also participate.
The 2023 MTS is now closed.
All IMGs with limited or provisional registration are required to have a training plan as a requirement of registration. Therefore, the Medical Board regards IMGs to be ‘in training’.
Doctors in training will be able to complete the survey online via their phone, tablet or PC/laptop.
Interns and IMGs
Interns and IMGs will receive their unique survey link via the following email invitation from the MBA.
Doctors in training who are not interns or IMGs
Doctors in training who are not interns or IMGs can do the survey when they renew their medical registration online. The survey link will appear upon completing of registration. See below:
If a doctor in training loses internet connection or closes the survey window, they will be able to re-enter the survey by clicking on their unique survey link.
Unique survey link for interns and IMGs
For interns and IMGs this unique survey link can be found in their original email invitation from the MBA.
Unique survey link for doctors in training (not interns or IMGs)
All other doctors in training who have renewed online can find their unique survey link in their confirmation of registration email from Ahpra.
Yes.
We have built in the functionality for doctors in training to ‘save and exit’ the survey. If they click ‘save and exit’ in the survey, they will be asked if they would like to receive an email with their unique survey link. The doctor in training can then enter their preferred email address and EY Sweeney will send them a unique survey link. When the doctor in training clicks on this link in their email it will re-direct them to the last question they were on.
You can also resume the survey by clicking on your unique link (see above).
Yes.
We have scheduled reminder emails and SMS’ to be sent out to only those who have not completed the survey.
No.
Once a doctor in training has submitted their survey they do not have the ability to re-complete it. If they click on their unique survey link after completing their survey, they will be re-directed to a ‘thank you for completing and submitting your survey’ landing page.
Yes.
Taking part in the Medical Training Survey (MTS) is confidential and secure. There is no link between your survey feedback and your medical registration. The Board and Ahpra will not receive any information or answers that identifies individuals.
Ahpra will be sending a unique survey link to all doctors in training because it has their contact details. To satisfy privacy and confidentiality regulations, these cannot be passed onto any third party.
When you do the MTS, you will be taken to a third party website, hosted by independent research agency EY Sweeney.
The Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra will only receive aggregated and de-identified survey data from EY Sweeney.
To make sure we don’t spam you with unnecessary reminders, EY Sweeney will give us a list of email addresses so we can send reminders only to individuals who are yet to complete the survey.
Your connection to the MTS uses https. This is strong, industry standard technology, so you can be confident your answers will arrive securely. Data you provide for the survey is securely stored by EY Sweeney in a separate database.
The MTS is also provided from Australian data servers, so you can be confident your data will be managed strictly in accordance with Australian Privacy Law. Your answers will be handled in line with the privacy policies of Ahpra and EY Sweeney.
EY Sweeney is a research agency contracted by the Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra to administer the MTS, collect the data, analyse it and report on the results.
- This is an anonymous survey and your answers will be handled in line with the privacy policies of the Medical Board, Ahpra and EY Sweeney
- Only de-identified survey data will be provided to Ahpra and the Medical Board
- Your answers will be de-identified and aggregated in any reporting of results
- De-identified and aggregated data will be published and shared with Colleges, postgraduate medical councils and employers to shape future training improvements.
- Data can be accessed under the ‘Results’ tab on the MedicalTrainingSurvey.gov.au website.
You will be able to create your own report, using the 2023 MTS data, at the end of January 2024.
The results for previous Medical Training Surveys (MTS) are available in the Results section of the website. The results can be accessed in a variety of formats:
- National and static reports – these can be downloaded - click on the ‘Report and results’ tab do you mean static reports - National and by cohort, state and territory, specialist medial college
- High-level snapshot – you compare state/territory responses with the national response under the ‘Dashboard’ tab
- Create your own report – you can create your own tailored report by using the advanced filters and/or comparison tool - by click on the ‘Create your own report’ tab. You can view your tailored report onscreen or have it emailed to you as a PDF document.
All survey results are published in a de-identified and aggregate format. Consistent with our commitment, we have prioritised confidentiality so results are only published when there were 10 or more responses.
Survey results are displayed as both charts and tables.
There are two ways to access the results. There are national and static reports accessible from the Reports and results page, or you can use the interactive data dashboard to Create your own report. You can use the data dashboard to tailor your own report using pre-defined filters and/or the comparison tool.
Find out how you can create your own tailored report using the Medical Training Survey (MTS) datasets including how to; compare datasets across years, specialist medical colleges and states/territories, switch on the national average, change how the data is displayed (graph or table format), output your tailored report as a PDF or powerpoint file and see the statistical significance. Click play on the instructional video below and discover the many possibilities of the MTS interactive data dashboard.
We have prioritised confidentiality. Data is only available in a de-identified and aggregate format in two ways – through national and static reports and by using the interactive data dashboard.
You can create your own report using the ‘advanced filters’ and/or comparison tool in the Create your own report section of this website.
Use the ‘advanced filters’ and/or comparison tool in the data dashboard to select the fields you want, hit ‘apply’ and the specific results you’ve requested will be displayed (providing confidentiality thresholds have been met). You can download the results or have a PDF report emailed to you by submitting your email when you are ready to generate your report. It will take no longer than 1 business day to receive your report.
You can compare data against the national response or previous years in the Create your own report section. Use the comparison tool on the left-hand side under the ‘optional’ heading.
You can compare the results from previous years using the new functionality on the interactive data dashboard. See how the trends from year to year by clicking here.
There are two possible reasons data may not be displayed. Either there were fewer than 10 responses to that question and data is not published to protect confidentiality, or the specific group of doctors in training did not receive that specific question in the survey.
When there were fewer than 30 responses to a question, a disclaimer that ‘caution should be taken when interpreting the results’ applies. When there are fewer than 30 responses there is a greater risk that the result is due to chance, compared to questions with >30 responses.
All findings are rounded to a whole number. This means that 0% and 0.1%-0.49% are rounded down to 0%. Therefore, users accessing the data in the static reports or via the data dashboard may notice that some responses do not add to 100%. This is due to the rounding algorithm applied.
Tests for statistical significance have been conducted to compare any difference between years. These tests have been undertaken at the 95% confidence level. This means that if there is a statistically significant difference between the results for answers within a certain year compared to the previous year, we can be 95% confident that the difference has not occurred by chance and that it reflects a genuine difference between years.
To help with interpretation of charts and tables, the following have been included:
If you have questions about completing the survey please contact EY Sweeney at medicaltrainingsurvey@au.ey.com
Any other questions send to the MTS team at the Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra at MTS@ahpra.gov.au