Too many fellows, too few jobs: the Australian reality

We read with interest the recent editorial by Fiorella et al ,1 entitled ‘Should neurointerventional fellowship training be suspended indefinitely?’, detailing the potential hazards of neurointerventional (NI) overtraining in the USA. We face similar issues in Australia pertaining to our own current NI workforce demand and NI trainee employment outlook. The landmass of Australia is twice the size of the European Union and almost as large as continental USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii).2 However, the vast majority (>85%) of the 23 million population live within 30 miles of the coastline, and 98% live in major cities or regional areas where access to NI services are considered to be available.3 Currently, 30 practicing neurointerventionalists service this population. Similar to the USA, most perform additional non-NI work, such as diagnostic radiology, medical neurology, or open surgery. Given the core …