PROGRAM OVERVIEW 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS and course requisites

PROGRAM CONTENTS

Professional Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery

• Surgical anatomy and skin lines
• Local anaesthetic blocks
• Large elliptical excisions
• Advanced suturing techniques
• Rotation flaps
• Advancement flaps
• Full thickness grafts
• Dog ear repairs
• Wound care and various dressings

Advanced Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery

• Anatomy of the head, neck, nose, lip, eyelid, ear, and upper and lower limbs
• Advancement flaps and rhomboid flaps on the face
• Rotational flaps in closure of scalp, cheek and distal limb defects
• Full thickness and split thickness grafts on the face and lower limb defects
• Closure of ear defects with flaps, grafts and wedges
• Closure of upper lip and lateral nose defects with advancement, rhomboid and V-Y flaps

Professional Diploma of Skin Cancer Surgery
(+ mandatory Expert Workshop)

• Anatomy of nose, eyelids, lips and ears
• Reconstruction of alar and nasal tip defects of the nose and the bilobed flap
• Reconstruction of lower eyelid defects
• Reconstruction of complex lip and ear defects
• Lower limb anatomy and surgical planning
• A review of perforator island flaps for the lower limb: Bezier and Keystone flaps

PROGRAM FEES AND PAYMENT OPTIONS

GP REGISTRARS: Doctors in training who are on a recognised pathway to General Practice Registration through a recognised training provider receive a HealthCert Scholarship.

COURSE DELIVERY AND ASSESSMENT

CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION

Upon successful completion of the exams, course participants will receive the Professional Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery, the Advanced Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery and/or the Professional Diploma of Skin Cancer Surgery.

Each course qualifies for:

• Provides CPD points from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
• Provides PRPD points from the Australian Council of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
• Is recognised by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP).
• Is accredited by the Skin Cancer Institute (SCI) and may be used as part of an application for Certified Skin Cancer Doctor credentials.
• Qualifies for a clinical attachment in France at the University of Lyon.
• Qualifies for a clinical attachment in Austria at the University of Vienna.
• Has been collaboratively designed with, and is annually reviewed by, Professor David Wilkinson, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Macquarie University.
• Has been independently developed with subject specialists and does not receive education grants from any pharmaceutical company.

Education Pathways

Professional Diploma Pathway

The full pathway is Professional Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery, Advanced Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery, Professional Diploma of Skin Cancer Surgery.

Membership of the Skin Cancer Institute is also recommended. This qualification may be used as part of an application for Certified Skin Cancer Doctor credentials.  

Postgraduate Pathway

Postgraduate Diploma in Minor Surgery studied through the Rila Institute of Health Sciences and awarded by the University of Plymouth (UK).

There are three modules in the Postgraduate Diploma. Medical professionals who successfully complete the HealthCert Professional Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery, Advanced Certificate of Skin Cancer Surgery and Professional Diploma of Skin Cancer Surgery will be eligible to apply for Accreditation of Prior Certified Learning (APCL) for module 3.

The Postgraduate Diploma is mainly delivered online. No practical workshops will be required due to the APCL from the HealthCert qualifications. Overall there will be a time saving of 40 per cent of the postgraduate program due to the APCL. Exams will be held in Perth, Western Australia. 

When the Postgraduate Diploma has been successfully completed, doctors can apply for credit from the Postgraduate Diploma to the Master of Science in the Specialism awarded by the University of Plymouth.

For more information, please click here.

Certified Clinical Attachments Pathway

Clinical Attachments are optional and available on a 1:1 or small group basis. These provide the opportunity to observe skin cancer surgery and ask questions of the expert performing the procedures. In addition to clinical attachments in Australia, university teaching hospitals at the University of Lyon and the University of Vienna are available for clinical attachments. HealthCert certificates and university statements are awarded for participating in clinical attachments.

The dominant areas of study covered by The Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 are science and medicine. Attached to the university are the "Hospices civils de Lyon" including the "Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud", which is the largest teaching hospital in the Rhône-Alpes region and second largest in France. Out of the 2630 faculty 700 are also medical practitioners at local teaching hospitals.

The Medical University of Vienna is the largest medical organisation in Austria, as well as one of the top-level research institutions in Europe and provides Europe's largest hospital, the Vienna General Hospital, with all of its medical staff. The Vienna General Hospital has about 100,000 patients treated as inpatients and 605,000 treated as outpatients each year.