The International Medical Graduate Clinical (IMG) Readiness Program (ICRP) pilot was developed in 2023 as a structured 12-week program. ICRP was targeted at IMGs who are living in Australia as permanent residents or Australian Citizens and have not been able to secure a job as a doctor. Participants were engaged as Medical Support Officers (MSOs), were part of the medical team and were indemnified to complete basic clinical tasks under supervision.
ICRP was structed into 3 parts, the centralised orientation, local orientation at participating Local Health Heath Districts (LHDs) and then 10 weeks of clinical practice on a ward.
The primary goals of the program were:
At the pilot's end, the NSW Ministry of Health undertook an evaluation via a mixed-method, two-stage descriptive study using online surveys and semi-structured interviews with consenting participants. The participants included the MSOs, Directors of Training (DoTs), supervisors and members of the multidisciplinary team.
The evaluation report concludes that the ICRP pilot was a successful workforce strategy and should continue to support IMGs entering the NSW Health workforce. The report makes 10 recommendations, including identifying opportunities to further improve the functioning of the role, refinements to the recruitment process, and a review of the centralised orientation.
