Plastic Surgeon
As a Plastic Surgeon in the Army Reserve, you will have the opportunity to use your existing qualifications and skills in an exciting new way. This part-time, flexible position offers time commitments that fit around your lifestyle.
In your role as a part-time Plastic Surgeon, you will be responsible for performing surgical and non-surgical procedures. You will use a variety of reparative and reconstructive techniques in the early management of patients. You will already be familiar with many of these tasks, however in the Army Reserve your operating environment will be different.
You could be posted locally at a base near you and you could have the opportunity to travel within Australia or overseas. If you choose to deploy overseas, you will work out of a deployed field hospital with coalition forces. Wherever you go, you will work with state-of-the-art technology and materials that meet the standards of an Australian hospital.
Teamwork is an essential part of the Army Reserve. In this role, you will be part of a team of talented and passionate medical professionals working toward a common goal.
The Australian Army employs a range of medical professionals and specialisations to work in Army Medical Units. Plastic Surgeons are part of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC). The RAAMC is tasked with providing quality health care to the Australian Army with the mission of ensuring the conservation of its people through medical means.
Requirements and training
You must be qualified and unconditionally registered as a medical practitioner with AHPRA, with a Fellowship in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. It is desirable but not essential to have conducted rotations through a burns unit and completed the EMSB course.
To join the ADF, you must be healthy and physically fit. This is partially assessed from the completion of an extensive questionnaire covering your medical history, followed by a physical examination.
You’ll also be required to successfully pass a physical fitness assessment.
Male
- Push-ups: 8
- Sit-ups: 20
- Beep Test: 6.1.
Female
- Push-ups: 4
- Sit-ups: 20
- Beep Test: 6.1.
For further details on medical and physical fitness standards, refer to physical fitness standards for entry into the ADF and medical process for entry into the ADF.
The Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) for Reserve Service is 65 years. Enlistment up to and including the age of 60 years is open for all employment categories.
Candidates who wish to enlist into the Army Reserve beyond the age of 60 years will need to be further assessed to ensure that they would be feasibly able to complete all obligatory pre-requisite training in their chosen area of employment prior to reaching CRA.
Candidates whose age exceeds the age guidelines may still be considered for appointment, providing they have special skills or training that is of value to the Army.
You must be qualified and unconditionally registered as a medical practitioner with AHPRA, with a Fellowship in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. It is desirable but not essential to have conducted rotations through a burns unit and completed the EMSB course.
To be appointed, you must be medically and physically fit for entry to your chosen occupation. This is partially assessed from the completion of an extensive questionnaire covering your medical history, followed by a physical examination.
You will also be required to successfully pass a physical fitness test before your appointment.
For further details on medical and physical fitness standards refer to Physical Fitness Standards for Entry into the ADF and Medical Process for Entry into the ADF.
There is no minimum number of years required in the ADF Reserve as service is voluntary. You can volunteer until the Defence retirement age of 65, subject to the requirements and your suitability for further service.
Reserve service is flexible and can fit around your family, life, and work responsibilities. In your first year, you can choose to serve between a minimum of 21 and up to 100 days, which includes initial Employment and Military Training. After that, you can choose to serve 20 to 100 days each year. On training completion, you can serve from as little as one night a week, one weekend a month, or in consecutive weeks - in a way that suits your lifestyle.
The Specialist Service Officer, Officer Commissioning Course (SSO OCC) is conducted at the Royal Military College – Duntroon. It provides Army Reserve Specialist Service Officers with fundamental knowledge of leadership, command and control, unit and personnel administration, basic military skills and the ideals of officer behaviour and attitudes necessary for future employment.
Burns Surgeons are required to attend Module 1 only, for a duration of 8 days. If your personal schedule permit, and you have a desire to attend additional modules, you can discuss this with your Career Advisor.