International Federation for Emergency Medicine Model Curriculum for Emergency Medicine Specialists

Cherri Hobgood; Venkataraman Anantharaman; Glen Bandiera; Peter Cameron; Pinchas Halpern; C. James Jim Holliman; Nicholas Jouriles; Darren Kilroy; Terrence Mulligan; Andrew Singer

Cherri Hobgood¹, Venkataraman Anantharaman², Glen Bandiera³, Peter Cameron⁴, Pinchas Halpern⁵, C. James Jim Holliman⁶, Nicholas Jouriles⁷, Darren Kilroy⁸, Terrence Mulligan⁹, Andrew Singer¹⁰

¹University Of North Carolina School Of Medicine, Chapel Hill, Nc
²Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
³St. Michael’s Hospital, University Of Toronto, Toronto, On
⁴The Alfred Hospital Emergency And Trauma Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
⁵Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁶Uniformed Services University Of The Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md
⁷Akron General Medical Center, Akron, Oh
⁸College Of Emergency Medicine, London, Uk
⁹University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, Baltimore, Md, Usa
¹⁰Australian Government Department Of Health And Ageing, And The Australian National University Medical School, The Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australia

Keywords: Curriculum, graduate medical education; house officers; international emergency medicine; medical education; residents.

Abstract

To meet a critical and growing need for emergency physicians and emergency medicine resources worldwide, physicians must be trained to deliver time-sensitive interventions and lifesaving emergency care. Currently, there is no globally recognized, standard curriculum that defines the basic minimum standards for specialist trainees in emergency medicine. To address this deficit, the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) convened a committee of international physicians, health professionals, and other experts in emergency medicine and international emergency medicine development to outline a curriculum for training of specialists in emergency medicine. This curriculum document represents the consensus of recommendations by this committee. The curriculum is designed to provide a framework for educational programs in emergency medicine. The focus is on the basic minimum emergency medicine educational content that any emergency medicine physician specialist should be prepared to deliver on completion of a training program. It is designed not to be prescriptive but to assist educators and emergency medicine leadership to advance physician education in basic emergency medicine no matter the training venue. The content of this curriculum is relevant not just for communities with mature emergency medicine systems but in particular for developing nations or for nations seeking to expand emergency medicine within the current educational structure. We anticipate that there will be wide variability in how this curriculum is implemented and taught. This variability will reflect the existing educational milieu, the resources available, and the goals of the institutions’ educational leadership with regard to the training of emergency medicine specialists.