Neurosurgery

A neurosurgeon, also known as a brain surgeon, is a doctor who specialises in the surgical treatment and management of conditions that affect the brain, spine and nervous system.

Minimum Time to Completion: 7 years from graduation

Details

How to Apply

Eligibility Requirements

RACS Generic Eligibility Requirements:

Medical registration
- In Australia: General (unconditional) registration, or
- In Aotearoa New Zealand: General scope or restricted general scope registration in the relevant specialty
Permanent residency or citizenship of Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand
You must have completed either the Operating with Respect eModule (retired late 2023) or Introduction to Operating with Respect. Both online courses are provided by the RACS Professional Development team. Note: Only one of these courses needs to be completed to meet this eligibility requirement.
Generic Surgical Sciences Exam (GSSE) must be passed either at the time of registration or by the close of SET applications.

Neurosurgery Eligibility Requirements:

At the time of application, applicants must nominate a Home Region where they have completed a
minimum 24 weeks’ full‐time equivalent dedicated neurosurgical experience in the three years
immediately prior to application. If selected, applicants will ordinarily spend the majority of their SET Program in their Home Region if there are available accredited training posts.
Satisfactorily completed the RACS Generic Surgical Sciences Examination at the time of application.
Achieved the Minimum Standard of 70% in the NSA Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination at the time of application.

Application Process

Registration

Register with RACS
Confirm for themselves that they meet the eligibility requirements before submitting their completed registration form.
Submit a completed registration form including the required supporting documentation and pay the registration fee by the registration closing date.

Selection

The selection process uses four selection tools, each contributing the following weightings to the overall selection score out of 100.

Selection Tool	Weighting	Minimum Standards to be deemed suitable for selection
Structured Curriculum Vitae	10	50% (6 out of 12)
Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination	30	70% (168 out of 240)
Semi Structured Interview	30	50% (12 out of 24)
Reference Report	30	50% (16 out of 32)

Maximum Attempts

Applicants may attempt selection to the SET Program up to four times, with an additional attempt granted each time they reach the final ranking, capped at a maximum of six attempts in total.

NSA Selection Regulations

Program Structure

The Training Program can be completed in a minimum of five years and a maximum of nine years’ subject to satisfactory progression through the levels in the timeframes outlined in the Training Program Regulations. The three levels are:

Basic Neurosurgical Training (1 to 2 years)
Intermediate Neurosurgical Training (3 to 4 years)
Advanced Neurosurgical Training (1 to 3 years)

Information on the curriculum is available here.

The majority of the training is undertaken in clinical training posts accredited by the Board of Neurosurgery in Australian and New Zealand hospitals (information on the training posts is available here). The clinical training posts facilitate workplace hands on service learning and exploration in a range of training environments providing the opportunity for the trainee to develop, with supervision, the requisite experience, knowledge, skills and attributes necessary to become a competent independent specialist neurosurgeon. Trainees are allocated to accredited training posts by the Board of Neurosurgery for each year of their Training Program. Trainees will rotate through a minimum of three training units with accredited clinical training posts during their Training Program to ensure they receive a wide exposure to systems, supervisors and case mixes.

Fees

Annual Fee:

AUD $4,360.00

Exam Fee:

GSSE: AUD $4,720.00
Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination: AUD $550.00
Specialty Surgical Sciences exam: AUD $2,355.00
Fellowship exam: AUD $10,465.00

Registration Fee:

AUD $655.00

Selection Application Fee:

AUD $440.00

Useful Resources / Courses / Conferences

ASSET Course
CCrlSP Course
CLEAR Course
EMST Course
TIPS Course
Graduate Diploma of Surgical Anatomy
Research/Book chapters/Masters/PhD
Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
NSA Annual Scientific Meeting

Key Information

PGY Intake Year (earliest)

PGY3

Training Duration (minimum)

5 years FTE

General Progression

Note that this represents one of the quickest routes to specialty training, and may not reflect additional HMO or unaccredited years of training.

Year 1

Internship

Year 2

Surgical HMO Year

Year 3

Commence Neurosurgery Advanced Training (PGY3+)

Part Time Option: Yes

Last Updated: December 4, 2024

The information found in this portal has been painstakingly collated by JMOs for JMOs, and is intended as a career progression guide for every aspiring JMO. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information presented on this website, but recent changes made by Specialist Medical Colleges may not be reflected in real time; please consult with the respective Specialist Medical College websites for the latest information. PMCV and JMO Victoria accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. Please feel free to contact our team with suggestions or comments via the feedback form.