Rehabilitation Medicine
Society of
Australia and New Zealand

RMSANZ is the professional body for rehabilitation physicians and trainees in Australia & New Zealand and offers a stimulating, supportive and collegial environment of professional development, continuing education, policy review and encouragement of teaching and research.

ISPRM World Congress 2024, Sydney from BESydney on Vimeo.

Latest News

RMSANZ AGM 2024

The 2024 Annual General Meeting of Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand Ltd (RMSANZ) (the AGM) will be held on 27 November 2024, 6pm, mark the date in your diary, zoom link to come!

RACP Survey Feedback

RACP would like to share the findings from the Royal Australasian College of Physician’s (RACP) 2024 New Fellow Survey.

This cross-sectional survey, first conducted in 2021 and run annually since 2023, offers insights into how prepared our new Fellows feel for unsupervised practice and their transition to Fellowship.

We thank each of the 147 respondents (representing 12 per cent of RACP new Fellows, 1-2 years post-training) for sharing their experiences.

Key findings

The majority of new Fellows reported feeling prepared for unsupervised practice, especially in terms of competencies relating to communication, medical expertise, judgement, and decision making, and ethics and professional behaviour. However, the survey identified gaps in competencies relating to health policy systems, and advocacy and research.

New Fellows experienced challenges with:

feeling confident in leadership positions and making unsupervised decisions
transitioning to a less supported environment
balancing new workload expectations
finding consistent employment and job security
navigating private practice

Approximately one fifth of new Fellows reported that the transition to unsupervised professional practice was challenging, with over half of respondents suggesting that further College support on managing the transition would be helpful.

Receiving support from the RACP when needed, achieving a work/life balance and completing the Advanced Training Research Projects were identified as difficult aspects of training.

The College is dedicated to continual improvement of its training programs and facilitating a smooth transition to Fellowship through the provision of resources, supervision and support.

Results from the New Fellow Surveys, along with other external and internal feedback, are used to inform and develop new College initiatives such as our Health Policy, a Systems and Advocacy online course, and the rollout of supervisory training requirements. We’re now working across the RACP to see how we can further action these findings.

We invite you and your members to read the 2024 New Fellow Survey summary report available on the RACP website (also attached). Specialty-specific findings are also available for those specialities with 10 or more respondents across the 2021, 2023 and 2024 surveys.

Further information on the survey can be found on New Fellow Survey Page of the RACP website.

ISPRM Photos

Were you there?
ISPRM Congress 2024, photos available here

Government response to violence against people with disability deeply disappointing

Today’s Federal, State and Territory government response to our four-and-a-half-year Disability Royal Commission is deeply disappointing and fails to respond to the scale of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability.

National disability representative organisations have expressed significant concern that only 13 recommendations of 222 have been fully accepted, and that after nine months, so many recommendations remain still to be resolved across different levels of government.

Read more in this Media Release by People with a Disability Australia

Encouraging Leadership in Rehabilitation Medicine: Recognise Your Potential

The RMSANZ annual scientific meeting in Sydney this year together with ISPRM was a massive success. Whether the preferred nomenclature was PM&R, physiatry or rehabilitation medicine, the meeting involved thought-leaders and changemakers in the field collaborating and contributing their amazing work and insights. With over 1500 delegates from all around the world in wide-ranging fields, there is no doubt the ripple effects of this meeting will be felt for many years to come.

The session on leadership in rehabilitation medicine reflected on the unique leadership qualities that rehabilitation professionals bring to the table. Despite being underrepresented in medical leadership positions worldwide, our skills and experiences equip us to excel in these roles. A distinguished panel including Australia’s own Professors Fary Khan, Andrew Cole and Dr Gaj Panagoda considered how we can lead both from within and from the front.

Read more insights from the Conference on Leadership in Rehabilitation Medicine here

#LeadershipInRehab #PhysiatryLeaders #MedicalLeadership #FutureLeaders

Image 1 - Dr Maria Paul with Dr Alex Ganora, collecting prize on behalf of Dr Jessica Smith (pictured in second photo)

Dr Alex Ganora Emerging Leadership Award

Congratulations to Dr Jessica Smith for winning the inaugural Dr Alex Ganora Emerging Leadership Award 2024.
There was an the exceptional field of nominees for the prize – namely - Dr Stephanie Lam (Private Practice SIG NSW), Dr Kavitha Muthukrishnan (Branch Chair, Victoria/Tasmania) and Dr Kelly Dungey (Board member from Qld).
RMSANZ are glad to announce that this award will now be awarded every year as part of the ASM, for more details watch for information in the RMSANZ newsletter!

Congratulations to Prof Steven Faux, awarded AM for service to Rehabilitation Medicine and to medical research

For Professor Steven Faux, Rehabilitation Medicine has been his passion for many years and working with people living with disabilities has certainly seemed to be much more of a joy than a job. Professor Faux seeks to advance the field of rehabilitation medicine through innovative research, state-of-the-art service delivery and multidisciplinary collaboration.

This year, his decades of remarkable contributions to Rehabilitation Medicine and medical research have been recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

In a recent interview, Professor Faux says, “This honour is much more for rehabilitation medicine and the dedicated work of rehabilitation teams that care for people living with disabilities. It’s important recognition and acknowledgement for a part of medicine and hospital care that is often overlooked and for me personally it draws attention to working with the most inspired and inspiring people you will ever meet – those among us that live with disabilities.”

Heartfelt congratulations to Professor Faux and we look forward to seeing the continued positive impact of his innovative research and compassionate care.

Professor Steven Faux is the President of RMSANZ and the scientific lead for this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney, held in conjunction with the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM.

International Day of People with Disability

International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) is a United Nations observed day held on 3 December each year.

Message from Prof Steven Faux, President, RMSANZ

A disability action plan for an hospital. How does it work?

For more information on the Day and it's origins please click here

Join the RMSANZ

We look forward to welcoming you as a new member of RMSANZ to participate in a stimulating, supportive and collegial society that is dedicated to promote the growth and welfare of Rehabilitation Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians in Australia and New Zealand. The membership fee for AFRM Fellows is $462, $121 for AFRM Trainees and $220 for Associate Memberships. (Retired Fellows join for free)

JOIN NOW

Events

The Society and its members regularly hold events throughout Australia and New Zealand. Some of the listed events may only be open to members of the RMSANZ, whilst others may be open to all interested parties. Please contact us with information about your event so that we can add it to our calendar.

Member Login

Please make sure that you visit the "Members Only" page on a regular basis to see what new items, resources and information have been added.

Do you want to contact another Member? You will find out what you need to do here as well.

Membership Renewals are due on 1 July