CEM – Training Information – from entry to specialty to Consultant level

The College of Emergency Medicine sets the standards for specialist training in Emergency Medicine. The Training Standards Committee, on behalf of the College, is responsible for the supervision of training in the specialty and recommending trainees to PMETB for specialist registration at the end of their training.

Contents of this page:

Specialist Registrars
Specialty Registrars
Enrolment and Registration
E-portfolio
Annual training administration fee
Categories of College membership open to trainees
Quality Assurance and Educational Approval
College Tutor job description
Emergency Medicine Curriculum
Paediatric Emergency Medicine
Dual accreditation with Intensive Care Medicine
Additional recognised training in Acute Medicine
Contacts

Specialist Registrars (SpRs)

Advice for SpRs and StRs is not always the same. Information specifically for specialist registrars appointed to post before January 2007 can be found on the Pre-07 SpR page of this website.

Specialty Registrars (StRs)

Advice for trainees in run-through training posts, core specialty training posts, higher specialty training posts and fixed term training posts is available in the documents downloadable below.

• A trainee’s guide to Specialty Training in Emergency Medicine (download)
• Quick reference for Specialty Trainees (download)
• Exams & Emergency Medicine training (download)
• Calculation of CCT and CESR-CPs - 2007 entry trainees (download)
• Advice on the assessment of competences for ARCPs 2007 entry trainees (download)
• Calculation of CCT and CESR-CPs - 2008 entry trainees, except Scotland (download)
• Calculation of CCT and CESR-CPs - 2008 entry trainees, Scotland (download)
• Calculation of CCT and CESR-CPs - 2009 entry trainees (document coming soon)
• Glossary of Terms (download)
• Commonly used acronyms (download)

Enrolment and Registration

Trainees who have been issued with National Training Numbers (NTNs); run-through trainees and higher specialty trainees should enrol with the Training Standards Committee (TSC), Enrolment will enable the College to, in due course, confirm eligibility for the FCEM examination and make a recommendation to PMETB for inclusion on the specialist register.

Trainees who have not been issued with a National Training Number; core trainees, those in Fixed Term Specialty Training Appointments (FTSTA) or Locum Appointment for Training (LAT) posts should register with the Training Standards Committee (TSC). As part of this process the TSC will advise on the recognition of previous training and the training required to complete the programme.

To start the enrolment process trainees in substantive appointments should complete the enrolment and registration form downloadable below and return it with their CV and Form R if available.

• Enrolment and Registration form (download)

Trainees in FTSTA or LAT posts should complete the registration form below. This last page of this form must be completed and signed by the trainee’s postgraduate dean, head of school, STC Chair or Training Programme Director.

• FTSTA and LAT registration form (download)

E-portfolio

The E-portfolio is available for trainees to record assessments and progress through training. From August 2009 the e-portfolio will be compulsory for progression through training for all run-through trainees, core specialty trainees, higher specialty trainees and trainees in fixed term training posts. The e-portfolio is accessible at www.nhseportfolios.org . A user name and password is required to access the e-portfolio and the College must enter details of your posts and educational supervisor. A password will be issued to trainees who complete the e-portfolio user details form. Trainees must resubmit the form annually so that their post and supervisor details can be updated.

Educational supervisors should complete the e-portfolio educational supervisor’s form so that they can access their trainee’s e-portfolio and complete the relevant end of placement forms. Educational Supervisors only need complete the form once, it does not have to be done for every trainee.

• E-portfolio user details form 2009/2010 (download)
• E-portfolio educational supervisors details form (download)

Further information can be found on the e-portfolio page of the website

Annual Training Administration Fee

All trainees must pay an annual training fee for the administration of their training and access to the e-portfolio. Members of the College of Emergency Medicine, or those applying for membership, pay a reduced fee. The fee is currently payable by cheque made out to the College of Emergency Medicine and is payable in August, at the beginning of each training year. All trainees must pay the fee including those in fixed term posts. Flexible trainees pay the same fee as full time trainees but will pay no more than six fees.

• Annual training fee - £160
• Annual training fee for members of the College (or those applying for membership) - £80

Categories of membership open to trainees

The Training Standards Committee recommends that trainees become members of the College as this conveys additional advantages. For example members may access other College resources such as e-learning material, College mailings and pay reduced fees for conferences.

Becoming a member of the College is different to enrolling or registering with the Training Standards Committee. The following categories of membership are available to trainees:

Associate membership

Associate membership is available for trainees in years ST1-3 or CT1-3 who have not passed MCEM and for trainees in FTSTA appointments and LAT appointments at any year of training, unless they have been successful in MCEM.

Membership by election

Membership by election is available for trainees in ST4 and above who have not passed MCEM.

Membership by examination

Membership by examination is available for trainees at any level who have passed the full membership examination.

How to apply for membership

Membership application documentation is available in the Membership section of this website. You should complete and return the appropriate forms, direct debit mandate and equal opportunities form. If you have passed the MCEM examination you will be contacted directly about your membership and need not complete a form.

Quality Assurance and Educational Approval

The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB), working with postgraduate deaneries, is responsible of the approval of posts and programmes for postgraduate medical training. The CEM works with PMETB to establish national standards for the approval of training posts and programmes.

Departments seeking educational approval for training or a review of educational approval should take advice from their local EM Head of School/Specialty Training Committee chair about making an application to PMETB via the postgraduate deanery

• Educational recognition of specialty training posts and programmes (download)
• Eligibility to be a trainer (download)

College Tutor Job Description

The College Tutor role is new to Emergency Medicine. It is now expected that all sites training specialty trainees in Emergency Medicine will appoint a Head of Specialty Training (College Tutor). This appointment will oversee the training of junior doctors in Emergency Medicine (both at Core Training and Higher Specialty Training level) on behalf of the College of Emergency Medicine (CEM). The aim of the document downloadable here is to help clarify the appointments process, role and responsibilities of the CEM College Tutor.

College tutor job description (download)

Emergency Medicine Curriculum

The curriculum applicable to specialty training in Emergency Medicine and sub-specialty training in Paediatric Emergency Medicine can be found in the Curriculum section of the website.

Paediatric Emergency Medicine

Paediatric Emergency Medicine is a recognised sub-specialty of Emergency Medicine. Successful completion of a sub-specialty training programme can be recorded with your main specialty on the GMC specialist register. The training consists of six months in a Paediatric Emergency Medicine department approved for sub-specialty training and six months of ward-based paediatrics, three months of which should be in the care of unconscious and critically ill children, such as in a Paediatric ICU. Competences of the programme can be found in the Curriculum section of this website. Not all programmes will be able to offer, or trainees able to pursue, sub-specialty training and appointment will be on a competitive basis. Trainees must hold a training number before they can be appointed to a sub-specialty training post.

• UK Hospitals approved for Paediatric Emergency Medicine sub-specialty training (download)

Dual accreditation with Intensive Care Medicine

Intermediate & Advanced Level Accreditation in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) is available for EM trainees as regulated by the Intercollegiate Board for training in ICM. This type of training is available on a competitive basis and leads to dual CCTs in ICM and EM, but only when both training programmes have been completed. Not all programmes will be able to offer, or trainees able to pursue, dual accreditation. This extends specialty training as guided by the ICM Board. Trainees appointed to and ICM post should inform the College so that their CCT/CESR-CP date can be reviewed.

Additional recognised training in Acute Medicine

The Intercollegiate Board for training in ICM has drawn up recommended entry criteria and training pathways for specialty trainees in EM, anaesthetics and ICM who wish to develop an interest in Acute Medicine by achieving Level two competences. Consultants in EM who have successfully completed the additional training would work in teams at an equivalent consultant level to their acute medicine trained colleagues, dealing with the first 24 hours care of the patient. It is likely that this would normally take trainees 12 months. Level two competences in Acute Medicine will be ‘signed off’ but Acute Medicine accreditation will not be recorded on the specialist register. In the near future Acute Medicine will become a CCT specialty in its own right. When the Acute Medicine curriculum and assessment system has been agreed with PMETB the CEM will renegotiate the competences required to show Level two achievement for EM trainees. Until this becomes clearer trainees should seek advice from your local EM school.

Contacts

Contact details of the regional Heads of Training including postgraduate deaneries can be found here.

The Training Administrators at the College of Emergency Medicine are:

Stella Galea – stella.galea@collemergencymed.ac.uk
Oonah Newbury – oonah.newbury@collemergencymed.ac.uk

Useful websites

Modernising Medical Careers – www.mmc.nhs.uk
Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board – www.pmetb.org.uk
Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans in the UK - www.copmed.org.uk
Acute Care Common Stem – www.accsuk.org.uk

Documents