Changes to ACEM training

Changes to ACEM training - 2015

• Advanced training

• Curriculum

• Training time

• Workplaced based assessment

• Fellowship exam

• Transition arrangements

Curriculum

Curriculum structure

Training time

WBA’s

• Mini-CEX• CbD• DOPS• Shift report• MSF• ITA

• One per month

Transition to new program

Fellowship Exam- Written• Can sit after completion of early phase

• Fellowship Examination (FEx) Focus:The FEx (Written) will:

– continue to examine at consultant level, with a focus on knowledge-application. – be a separate assessment from the FEx (Clinical)

• Format: The FEx (Written) will comprise two components:– 1. Select-choice Question – Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Each MCQ comprises a stem (i.e. a short lead-in phrase) and a number of alternative options for response.  The correct response is presented, along with a number of plausible distractors.  The MCQs will be written to current best-practice guidelines.

– Extended Matching Questions (EMQs)Each set of EMQs comprise a theme (e.g. a particular presentation, investigation, diagnosis, or treatment); a list of possible answers (i.e. related to the theme), and a number of stems requiring a response chosen from the list. 

– 2. Short Answer Question (SAQ)– The SAQ component will incorporate Visual Aid Questions (VAQs) and be structurally modified

to align with current best-practice guidelines. The revised format SAQs will use questions that are highly structured and specific, with responses that will require single words or short phrases, rather than mini-essays.

Fellowship Exam- Clinical• To be eligible candidates must:

– Have successfully completed FEx written– Have satisfied research requirement– be in final 12 months of training

• Focus: The FEx (Clinical) will:– continue to examine at consultant-level, with a focus on knowledge-

application, skills and attributes. – be a separate assessment from the FEx (written).

• Format: The FEx (Clinical) will comprise one component:– 1. Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) – A set of clinical examination stations (c.f. the pre-2015 FEx 'Structured

Clinical Examination Stations [SCEs]).  The OSCE stations may include standardised patients, observation stations, clinical scenarios, communication scenarios and simulations of management of critically ill patients. 

Changes to ACEM training

• Due in 2015• Curriculum learning outcomes defined• WBA’s will begin next year• Significant change to structure of FEx• Other advanced training requirements unchanged

– Paediatrc requirement– Trainee research– Special skills logbook