Full membership applies to fully qualified physicians in the field of General Medicine.

Any of the following shall be eligible for membership as an Ordinary Member: 

a) a Fellow of the RACP who practises as a general physician in Internal Medicine, with or without a specialty interest; 

b) a Fellow of the RACP who practices predominantly as a specialist, and has an interest in general internal medicine; and 

c) a medical practitioner who is not a Fellow of the RACP but who is recognised as a consultant physician in accordance with the definition as enunciated. 

In this sub-clause: 

a “consultant physician” is a practitioner who, by training and experience in internal medicine, paediatrics or one of their sectional specialties, is able to give a learned opinion regarding the patient as a whole and whose practice is exclusively on referral; 

“training and experience” is judged by reference to the standard required by the RACP for admission under its Article 37. As at August 2013, that means three (3) years of basic physician training, three (3) to five (5) years of accredited and appropriately supervised specialty advanced training and a rigorous examination; and 

a “learned opinion” takes into account the issues of duration and complexity of the consultation which is occupied by the history and examination as well as the assessment of the relevant investigations of the patient, together with further investigation and management, and includes communication with the consulting source.