College of Medicine and Dentistry Get Involved Volunteers for Medicine Selection Panels

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Volunteers for Medicine Selection Panels

Help select Queensland's future health workforce, by selecting our future doctors

To produce doctors who are passionate about serving our regional, rural and remote communities, it is vital that these communities are involved in the process from day one.

The JCU College of Medicine and Dentistry invites clinicians, members of the public, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community members, and JCU staff/adjuncts to be involved as part of medical student selection panels for JCU's Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course.

Hear from northern Queensland clinicians on what motivated them to get involved.

Find out below how you can help by volunteering as an interviewer.

  • To volunteer to interview please register here. You will need to create a profile and select your availability.
  • Register here if you are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander wanting to participate specifically on the interview panel for the Medicine Indigenous Recruitment Pathway interviews for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.

In 2023, 306 volunteer interviewers and 58 zoom masters helped us with the interview process for 713 domestic applicants for the 2024 JCU medicine intake.  9 interviewers volunteered for our Indigenous Recruitment Pathway interviews, interviewing 14 applicants.

JCU is Australia’s most successful university in producing medical graduates who go on to serve regional and rural communities.  This success is in part due to JCU’s unique approach to selecting students for the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. JCU recruits students who are from regional, rural and Indigenous communities or have an interest in ‘going rural’. The program is regionally based and focuses on priority community needs and collaborative partnerships.

Selection into our program is based on consideration of the applicant’s Year 12 score or results from further study, and an interview.  This process ensure we are selecting the right applicants who are more likely to go on to work in communities that are currently underserved in the health care needs.

As part of the interview process, we invite applicants from across Australia and New Zealand for an interview online, via Zoom, with a three-person panel consisting of clinicians, community members and JCU staff/adjuncts. JCU provides a selection pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants which consists of an interview panel of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members.

“We’ve always benefited from really strong community backing. Because we're particularly trying to produce health professionals for the North, the North has always been behind us in terms of advancing that aim and they are a key part of selecting future medical students.”

Prof Sarah Larkins, JCU College of Medicine and Dentistry

Volunteers are required to:

  1. Participate in self-paced, online training during September
  2. Interview candidates as a member of a three-person team
  3. Utilise support resources such as the manual throughout the process

Dates

Interviews will be held from 26th November – 3rd December 2024 and on 2nd and 3rd January 2025, with interviewer training conducted in September. Interviews are conducted with a morning and afternoon session, with each panel interviewing approximately 5 applicants. The morning session commences at 8am and the afternoon session commences at 1pm.

JCU provides a selection pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants which consists of an interview panel composed of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members.  These interviews will take place on 28th November and the 3rd and 4th of December 2024, with interviewer training held in November.

Interested volunteers are placed on panels according to their select availability.  We try to share the sessions, so will usually not allocate you to all of the dates you identify.  Panels are constructed in mid to late October, and allocated panel dates are sent by email to interviewers at the end of October.

If there are occasions when you would like to be on our backup register if someone is unable to attend, this would also be appreciated, as interviewers circumstances frequently change at the last moment.

Interview Panels

Panels usually consist of a medical doctor, academic and community person.  One person will be allocated as Chair for the panel. Each panel has a Zoom master, who provides support throughout the interview, and manages the technical aspects of zoom e.g. sharing the screen, bringing the applicant in and out of the interview room, etc, to enable interviewers to focus on the interview. All Zoom masters are located in a computer lab with the Selections and technical support team, meaning that any issues can be identified quickly, and support is close at hand.  We also have a hotline set up for any technical issues which may arise during the day.

Training consists of a number of self-paced online modules, and a live session via Zoom.  Links will be emailed following registration.

Refresher training

Experienced interviewers are provided with access to a short refresher training module.

Testing of Zoom/technological capabilities

There will be sessions set up with one of our technicians to test your Zoom connectivity and to ensure any technical issues are identified and managed prior to the interview days.  Specific dates and times will be notified by email.

  • Friday 18th October 2024 – last date for attending and completing training.
  • Friday 18th October 2024 – last date for selecting interview availability.
  • October - panels will be constructed.  The construction of the interview panels is quite complicated and finding a replacement panel member is not a simple matter.  Please email med.interviewers@jcu.edu.au or call 47 815025 ASAP if circumstances change and you are no longer available for your selected days.
  • Late October - Confirmed interview dates and times will be emailed.  Please note that interviews scheduled for January are likely to change.  We will endeavour to notify you ASAP if changes are required.
  • If you are available to fill in for interviews at short notice please email med.interviewers@jcu.edu.au and let us know.
  • The day before the Interview you will be emailed a Zoom link for your interview connection. This is the link you will use to dial in.

To volunteer to interview please register here. You will need to create a profile and select your availability.

Register here if you are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander wanting to participate specifically on the interview panel for the Medicine Indigenous Recruitment Pathway interviews for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.

For further information, please contact us:

Medical Selections
Phone 07 4781 5025
Email med.interviewers@jcu.edu.au