AusDoc 19th Sept | Page 3

NEWS 3
ausdoc. com. au 19 SEPTEMBER 2025

NEWS 3

Doctors lose hours on AHPRA portal

AusDoc survey reveals mass frustration with medical registration.
Paul Smith THE user interface issues with the AHPRA registration portal have been widespread— at least judging by the exasperation expressed through social media in recent weeks.
Doctors are reporting IT-induced brain bleeds, much of the blood resulting from dealing with the specific new demand
On average, doctors spent two hours and 22 minutes.
for multi-factor authentication of their identity.
It is a big deal, given 130,000 doctors should be on the register by the 30 September deadline.
AHPRA acknowledges the issues, noting that it has significantly increased the number of customer service staff.
The result is that wait times, at least as of 5 September, were under five minutes.
But while 56,000 had successfully registered— an“ encouraging start”, says AHPRA— there were a further 73,000 who had not.
What is not recognised is the amount of time spent to get this far.
Based on our survey, doctors on average said they spent two hours and 22 minutes trapped in the portal.
For the 1133 who took part, that is the equivalent of about 10,750 typical GP consults.
This was the experience of one Queensland GP:“ After failing, I rang AHPRA. The first consultant prudently let the line drop out after about 10 minutes and no progress.
“ The second consultant was very, very helpful and patient. He stuck with me for a full 60 minutes— way more than my lunch break would usually allow. He even went off to ask a higher authority about how the problem might be solved.
“ All to no avail, and I had to terminate the conversation to return to my now waiting afternoon session.
“ My daughter( non-IT trained) eventually sorted it out for me a week later.”
It is important to stress that there were
40 %
20 %
Estimate how many hours you spent in your attempt to register
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 +
Hours
n = 1133
doctors who faced no issues.“ It took me about 10-15 minutes to set up a new AHPRA login, at most,” one anaesthetist said.“ And I am an‘ old’ doctor— nearing 60.
“ It’ s 2025. Get with it, folks. Unfortunately, there are too many hackers, and we need secure data. Hospital networks, banks and other government agencies are the same, and two-factor authentication is the new reality.” He also said that the survey was
“ very biased”. But the collective experience does feed into the wider debate about both the time and cost demanded of doctors before they can clock on for work— not just the time and $ 1000 cost of registration, but the CPD, the indemnity premiums, the college fees and the rest.
Have you succeeded in registering through the new portal?
Rate the overall experience of registering through the new AHPRA portal
No, I’ m still going( 17 %)
Don’ t know / Other( 3 %)
Yes( 80 %)
20 %
Extremely frustrating
Neutral
Extremely pleasant n = 1134
n = 1141

Bone cement, radiation and miscarriage: new guidelines for female surgeons

Carmel Sparke NEW guidelines have been released to protect female orthopaedic surgeons from the surgical smoke, bone cement, radiation and long hours that can harm their unborn babies.
Around a quarter of female surgeons have at least one child during their training, according to the Australian Orthopaedic Association.
However, compared with the general population, they face higher rates of miscarriage and pregnancy complications, including preterm labour and intrauterine growth restriction, as well as three times the rate of infertility.
The association’ s guidelines are based on a literature review by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Elizabeth Garcia, along with interviews with orthopaedic trainees and junior consultants who experienced pregnancy, fertility treatments, pregnancy loss and
return to work in recent years.
“ A lot of questions remain unanswered, but what we do know is that if you compare people … who work excessive numbers of hours and people who work less hours, those who
work less hours seem to have fewer complications in pregnancy,” Dr Garcia, a surgeon at Perth Children’ s Hospital, told The Australian.
“ I just want these guidelines to be something that people can grab a hold of— not as a mandate, not as a set of rules, but as a guideline of evidence and information that is able to support them.”
Dr Garcia’ s review found that working more than 40 hours in the second and third trimesters, compared with those who worked less, had the same impact on fetal growth as maternal smoking.
The higher risk of complications is unrelated to later maternal age.
Female surgeons were also more likely than other professional women to experience pregnancy loss under 10 weeks’ gestation( 35.3 % vs 30.8 % for law / other doctorates).
Surgeons have their first baby at age 33 on average, several years later than the general population, and two years later than their non-surgical medical peers.
However, the guidelines stress that the surgeons’ raised risk of complications is not related to advanced maternal age.
To reduce increased rates of miscarriage, preterm labour and intrauterine growth restriction, the guidelines recommend keeping working hours as close as possible to 40 hours a week throughout pregnancy— and definitely below 60 hours.
They also call for better ventilation
Dr Elizabeth Garcia.
of surgical smoke, and for pregnant surgeons to wear a personal radiation monitor.
In addition, arthroplasty cases should be limited to four a day to reduce exposure to bone cement.
And exposure to cadavers and anatomical laboratories should be limited to reduce exposure to formaldehyde.
Australian Orthopaedic Association: bit. ly / 4mbfkFK