Careers Portal

Addiction medicine is a career that provides opportunities for:

• Teamwork and collaboration with colleagues
• Interaction with patients both short- and long-term
• Enhancing the quality of life for individuals, and the broader community
• An interest in medico-legal issues
• Research skills and knowledge
• Employing holistic knowledge skilfully in negotiating the interaction between mental health, physical health, and the social determinants of health and wellbeing.

Addiction medicine is increasingly recognised as an important component of multidisciplinary care within WA hospitals, with addiction specialists now employed within WA health hospitals.

Communication and problem-solving skills are key elements in addressing the challenges presented in substance use issues and dependency. Many addiction medicine registrars will have developed these skills in previous positions, and the training program offers opportunities for fine-tuning these essential qualities.

One of the positives of this specialty is that it covers a lot of different areas of interest such as social work, psychiatry, medicine, politics and public health.

Another positive is the great work-life balance with most Next Step doctors working “9 to 5” with no standard weekend work. Although there is an ‘on call’ roster, it is not particularly taxing as it is shared by many doctors.

 

Addiction medicine training is a chapter program of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP) training program. You can enter the training after completing RACP Basic Training or after a Fellowship from another medical college. Please refer to the RACP website for further information about the training program.

 

A pathway that works well for addiction medicine is one with broad experience with some good general resident posts such as medicine, psychiatry and emergency. The fact that the work can be flexible means that you can do rotations in many areas as lots of different area are impacted by substance use disorder. Many trainees have completed their general practice training which is a great way to form that ‘general’ foundation.

The training program is relatively easy to get in to with Next Step providing a very supportive environment and great access to consultants and other senior staff. The training includes access to varying subspecialties such as toxicology, public health, pain clinics and obstetrics. An advanced trainee position in addiction medicine has been approved by RACP for Fiona Stanely Hospital.

Since inception in 2003, the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine has worked on progressing the career opportunities for specialists in this field. WA workforce projections in 2022 identified growing need for addiction medicine specialists in the coming decade, as the current workforce average age is 62. While the majority of addiction medicine specialists in WA currently work for Next Step Specialist Drug and Alcohol Services, increasing recognition of the specialty in WA has seen the first consultant positions in WA public hospitals commencing 2021. As the specialty matures in the coming decade it is expected that hospital-based addiction services will grow in tandem with community services.