ONLINE COURSE

The Consultant Physician Role:
Navigating the Unknown of Fellowship

This online course is a practical grounding in the step up to consultant: the parts of the job no one sits you down to explain, so you start the role prepared rather than working it out alone.

Becoming a consultant is a bigger shift than anyone really prepares you for.

One day you're the registrar with a senior nearby to check your call, and the next, you're the one everyone is coming to. You're suddenly making the decisions and carrying the responsibility without the supervision you had during training. You know the medicine. But it's everything else that catches people out: the accountability, the rostering and contracts, the meetings, the service that now partly runs on you. If you've felt clinically ready and quietly unready for the rest of it, this course is built for you.

In the 2025 RACP New Fellow Survey, around a third of new fellows said the move from trainee to consultant was difficult or very difficult, and 68% of respondents wanted more support during the transition.

Our online Consultant Physician Role course is built for that transition. Across three modules we walk you through what actually changes when you step up: the shape of the role beyond the clinical work, and how the Aotearoa New Zealand system really runs. It covers your lines of accountability and the business side of the job, through to making decisions under full responsibility and handling things when they go wrong. It's grounded in the frameworks you practise within here: your obligations under Te Tiriti and cultural safety, ACC's no-fault treatment-injury system, and the Code of Rights.

It's honest about the hard parts, impostor syndrome included, and treats the early doubt as normal rather than a sign you're not coping. It's shaped by consultants who've made the same move, who built it to be the course they wish they'd had.

Built by Kevin Chen, who has made this exact move, and reviewed by our Clinical Advisory Board, it reflects how the role really works here, not how a textbook or latest academic article says it should. You'll come away clearer on what the role asks, more confident in where you fit, and with less left to learn the hard way.

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Quick Facts

  • Price: $400 + GST (course only), or $700 + GST (course + live sessions)
  • Time: Around 7 hours of course material, self-paced
  • Live sessions: 4 sessions, 60 to 90 minutes each (optional add-on)
  • Format: Online and self-paced, on any device
  • Built for: New consultants, senior registrars approaching Fellowship, and IMGs stepping into consultant roles in New Zealand

Course Contents

Try the first two lessons, free

Begin with Module One and see what actually changes when you step up from trainee to consultant, the shift most new fellows say caught them out. The introduction and the first two lessons are open to work through before you buy.

Our one-minute sign-up doesn't require a credit card. Register, follow the prompts and start straight away.

The Consultant Physician Role
Course Only

$400 + GST

The full online course: three modules, around 6-7 hours, self-paced on any device. We'll work through what changes when you step up, the shape of the role beyond the clinical work and how the Aotearoa New Zealand system really runs, with reflective exercises and scenarios drawn from real practice here.

The Consultant Physician Role
+ Live Sessions

$700 + GST

Everything in the online course, plus four live sessions with Kevin Chen. Each is a small group, kept to Kevin and no more than three clinicians including yourself. Every session is 60 to 90 minutes of working through real cases and lived experience. Reflective and case-based, the sessions go beyond the course rather than repeat it.

The Consultant Physician Role Course Only

$400 + GST

The full online course: three modules, around 6 to 7 hours, self-paced on any device. Works through what changes when you step up, the shape of the role beyond the clinical work, and how the New Zealand system really runs, with reflective exercises and scenarios drawn from real New Zealand practice.
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The Consultant Physician Role + Live Sessions

$700 + GST

Everything in the online course, plus up to four small-group live sessions with Kevin Chen, 60 to 90 minutes each, with no more than four clinicians in a group. Reflective and case-based, built to complement the course rather than repeat it. Places are limited by design.

Frequently asked questions

Who is this course for?

Physicians in their first one to three years as a consultant, senior registrars approaching Fellowship, and international medical graduates stepping into consultant roles in Aotearoa New Zealand. If you feel clinically ready but less sure of everything around the medicine, it's built for you.

Is this a clinical course?

No. It covers everything beyond the medicine: the accountability, the structure of the role, and how the Aotearoa New Zealand system works. Any clinical detail is there to ground the ideas in familiar situations, not to teach medicine. It's there to complement your specialty training, not replace it.

How is it delivered, and how long does it take?

Fully online and self-paced, around 6-7 hours across three modules. Most lessons take 20-30 minutes, so you can work through it over weeks rather than in one sitting. Your progress saves automatically, and it works on any device.

What's the difference between the two options?

The course on its own gives you all three modules and the full online content. The course with live sessions adds four small-group sessions with Kevin Chen for working through the material alongside a few others at the same stage. The online course is identical in both.

What are the live sessions?

Four small-group sessions with Kevin Chen, 60 to 90 minutes each, kept to Kevin and no more than three clinicians. They're reflective and case-based, built to complement the course rather than repeat it, and places are limited by the small group size.

Is it specific to New Zealand?

Yes. It's built around the Aotearoa New Zealand system as it actually works, including your obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and cultural safety, ACC's no-fault treatment-injury system, and the Code of Rights.

Can I record it for CPD?

Yes. You can record your time as self-directed CPD, and Module Two covers CPD, portfolios and quality improvement as part of the role.

Who made it?

It's shaped with consultants who've made the same move, led by Kevin Chen as clinical lead, and reviewed by our Clinical Advisory Board during development and before release.

I trained overseas. Is it useful for me?

Yes. It's useful for international medical graduates stepping into consultant roles here, so you're learning the Aotearoa New Zealand system and the step up to consultant at the same time.

What will I come away with?

A clearer sense of the role and where you fit, and practical strategies for the parts training has less room for, so less of it is left to learn the hard way.

Our Mission

To prepare doctors for the whole role their clinical expertise has to operate within: the responsibilities, systems, judgement and relationships that shape day-to-day practice, so they step into what's next prepared and confident, and no one has to find their feet alone.

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