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ANZ-Ireland link
The ANZ college of intensive care medicine (CICM) underlined the value of the link with Ireland as a central feature its annual scientific meeting dinner at Hobart in May, this year when they recognised the development of training and education structures and the evolution of the specialty of Intensive Care Medicine in Ireland. The majority of Irish training units are now also CICM-accredited and comprise a training entity comparable in size with that of some of their own states/territories. To mark this occasion, Dermot Phelan was awarded their annual College medal and his oration for the event recognised all those in Ireland and ANZ who have contributed to these developments. To view his oration to the College of Intensive Care Medicine please click here.
Focused Intensive Care Echo Course (FICE) UHL
The Training Lead Office in ULHG In partnership with Dr Cian McDermott, organized the first Irish Focused Intensive Care Echo Course (FICE) last October as part of the IAEM Annual Scientific Meeting. Dr Catherine Nix, ULHG Training Lead & Consultant Anaesthetist Intensivist has been working with local & national colleagues to teach Point of Care Ultrasound to learners here in UL, ULHG & further afield. This technology has the potential to reduce the time to diagnosis for patients and to improve patient flow. It is best delivered to learners in a structured program with an emphasis on scope of practice & quality assurance. The ULHG Training Lead Office is working with local educators in the University of Limerick & clinicians/physiologists in many departments in ULHG to produce a local strategy to develop such a structured program. Please see link below to Cardiac & Musculoskeletal Sonoanatomy for ULGEMS 2nd year Medical Students.
http://soh.isrs.ie/?page_id=1484
FJFICMI Written Examination – 11th April 2019
The following candidates have been successful:
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You will be notified of your hospital allocation once your application for the Part 2 exam has been received. Please download the clinical application form on the JFICMI website and send to exams@coa.ie or post to:
College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland
Examinations Dept
22 Merrion Square North
Dublin 2
JFICMI Spring Update 2019 – including opening of Specialist Register and Subscription fee Amnesty
Opening of Specialist Register for Intensive Care Medicine
The specialist register for Intensive care Medicine is now open and the first three nominees of the JFICMI (Credentials Committee members) have had their applications reviewed and accepted. Although there is not a requirement to be on the ICM section of the register in order to practise Intensive Care Medicine in Ireland, all doctors who are eligible for the above specialist registration (mainly those who are currently employed in Intensive Care Medicine Consultant positions in Ireland and those who have been recently completed JFICMI training in Ireland) are now encouraged to regularise the current situation with regard to Intensive care Medicine in Ireland and apply to the Irish Medical Council (IMC) for inclusion.
This process opened on the 18/4/2019 and application forms are available from the Medical Council. In recognition of the currently established consultant practice in Intensive Care Medicine in Ireland and to encourage its regularisation by the ‘populating’ of the specialist register, there is a reduced fee for good standing Fellows of the JFICMI for the first year. This reduced fee pertains until 30April2020 only as the JFICMI is foregoing any fee for its work in this respect for that time.
Those wishing to apply should go to the IMC website https://www.medicalcouncil.ie/Contact-Details/Registration-Contact/, select “Request Application Pack” from the dropdown menu and indicate in the free text area that they require the Intensive Care Medicine Application pack. The Medical Council will charge an application fee of €470 to those applying for inclusion in the ICM section. The annual retention fee is fixed at €605 per practitioner i.e. practitioners do not have to pay twice for inclusion on 2 sections of the specialist register.
Amnesty for Annual subscription arrears
The JFICMI Board is keen to encourage Intensive Care doctors to partake in the current new phase in the development of ICM in Ireland by joining (or maintaining membership of) the JFICMI. The Faculty is the Training and Examination body, and will soon offer a PCS service, for Intensive Care Medicine in Ireland. In conjunction with the ICSI and its parent colleges, it is actively working on behalf of Intensive Care Trainees, Trainers and Training hospitals in Ireland. This is an excellent opportunity to take part in the activities of the Faculty.
Detail of amnesty:
- Those who are up to date in the payment of subscriptions to 2018 will be afforded free membership for the year 2019. The fee is Eur180/year for consultants and Eur50/year for trainees.
- All others members and previous members are invited to start paying from 2019 (invoices to be sent out shortly) and to have an amnesty for the non-payments of earlier years.
FJFICMI as a registrable additional qualification
The Medical Council have indicated that holders of the DIBICM/FJFICMI will be able to register this qualification in addition to their base specialty registration e.g. in Anaesthesia. The Dean has written to the IMC to request this update.
JFICMI Fellowship Ad Eundem
Individual doctors who have attained competence in ICM which is comparable to that attained by a doctor holding the FJFICMI (by examination and specified training) are eligible to apply for Ad Eundem fellowship. As part of a general revision of the JFICMI’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (MaAA), the Ad Eundem criteria have been revised and approved at the recent March Board meeting and are available on the website and here.
Recent elections
The Faculty welcomes the election to the Board of Drs Enda O’Connor and Catherine Nix. Also Dr Aisling McMahon as ICM elected trainee representative. We wish them well in the roles and functions they undertake.
Annual Scientific meeting
The JFICMI is collaborating with the ICSI in its joint meeting with the CAI this year on May 9/10h at Croke Park. Visiting speaker, Laurent Brochard will be awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the JFICMI at the meeting.
Committees
Training: Ongoing matters being addressed are
– Preparing a submission to the National Doctors Training Programme (NDTP), in conjunction with CAI, RCPI and EM, to pursue issue of manpower deficit and secure funding for postgraduate training posts in Intensive Care Medicine.
– Liaising with the CAI to address the implications for the provision of Special Interest years (SIYs) of ICM training (for CAI trainees) should the CAI SAT scheme change to a 6 year programme with SIY(s) being moved to a post CSCST fellowship activity.
– Accreditation Visitations of Training ICUs – now done as often as possible in conjunction with CAI visitation process. Accredited hospitals are listed on the JFICMI website.
– Competency assessments have been logged by the Faculty’s Supervisors of Training and are up to date as of January 2019.
Education: The Faculty’s recent 3-day pre-exam course in three hospitals (SJH, SVH and MMUH) was conducted satisfactorily. The Refresher course, organised by Dr Donal Ryan, and the Irish Donor Awareness Programme (IDAP) course, organised by Dr Ian Conrick-Martin, have just been satisfactorily conducted on Thursday 25th and Friday Apr 26th 2019. The refresher is a preparatory course for those preparing for the Fellowship exam and the IDAP course is mandatory for JFICMI trainees as part of their Fellowship training but both are open to all with an interest in ICM.
Exams: Noted that new exam format (two long cases instead of one long case and two minors) has been agreed and is being effected this year. The website exam information has been correspondingly updated by the Chair of Examinations including the revision of the document on the approach to the clinical exam. This has been informed by feedback from the pre-exam course from trainers and attendees and it emphasizes the clinical nature and the examiner expectations of the clinical exam. The need for Training Hospitals, and other consultant members, to increase their involvement in the Exam process was emphasised by the Exams Chairman, Dr Andrew Westbrook.
Credentials: The Chair, Dr Michael Scully reported that a steady trickle of applications for Ad Eundem fellowships has started. The Board allowed the committee to make the final decisions on the three that were presented to it, once required documentation has been satisfactorily furnished.
Website
Noted that categorisation of all members (consultants, retired, overseas, Trainees year 1 and 2 etc) is almost finalised and that this will facilitate better and more targeted communication with all members; it will also allow the new invoicing function to work effectively this year. Ultimately, it is envisaged that members will have a ready mechanism on the site to update their own membership (categorisation) details. A meeting to review progress and further priorities is due between Strata3, the website developer and the website team and Treasurer is organized.
Paediatrics The standards document for Paediatric ICUs is being finalised and the criteria for Paediatric Ad Eundem applicants (who have not achieved FJFICMI by examination) were agreed. The difference between these and the adult criteria were noted and accepted – see Ad Eundem document.
Results: FJFICIMI Clinical Examination 17th May 2019
Please find below the list of candidates that have been successful in the FJFICMI Clinical Examination on the 17th May 2019 .
Guidance for continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in the Intensive Care management of patients during SARS-2-Covid-19 pandemic
National Standards Paediatric Critical Care Medicine 2020
National Standards Paediatric Critical Care Medicine 2020
Summer Update 2020
Critical Care Capacity expansion and COVID 19:
The critical care representative organisations (ICSI/JFICMI/CCP/CAI/AAGBI and IACCN) have written an open letter to all political parties to seek an increase in critical care capacity in Ireland sufficient to bring us up to the European average of 12 critical care beds per 100,000 of population (we currently have 5.2/100,000). This has been positively received and an Taoiseach has written in reply to state that he will seek inclusion of ICU bed expansion in the new program for government.
The JFICMI is in the process of completing a specialty review of the medical workforce requirements for current and future (expected expanded) critical care capacity. This is being led by Dr Brian Marsh on behalf of the JFICMI and Roisin Morris of the NDTP (National Doctors Training and Planning, HSE).
The JFICMI has also submitted a business plan for an additional 6 de novo Special Interest Year (SIY) training positions to cater for an increasing requirement and demand for Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) training.
COVID Education:
The Joint Faculty was asked at the start of the COVID19 pandemic by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide a teaching module for care of critically ill patients with COVID 19. Members of the board completed this process at the start of the pandemic `and there is a useful powerpoint presentation on the website (under COVID 19) which gives an expert overview and provides a detailed, practical guide to specific elements of COVID 19 patient management e.g. CPAP, Proning, Intubation, Suction, Surgery, CPR etc. The presentation is also included on the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (CAI) website.
Specialist Register:
There has been a steady stream of applicants for the ICM section of the Irish Medical Council (IMC) register. There are currently 17 doctors registered in the section with many more applications in the pipeline. The JFICMI and CAI have agreed that the assessment fee waiver will be continued for a further year until April 30th 2021.
Exams:
The FJFCIMI exam schedule has been reorganised to take account of the COVID restrictions with the written postponed until August 21st and the Clinical/Viva postponed until October 2nd. There will also be a temporary change to format of the clinical part of the exam to conform with public health advice.The pre-exam course is planned for 22nd-24th July. The JFICMI will not be running the EDIC exam in Dublin this year on behalf of the ESICM due to the travel restrictions.
Training:
The JFICMI has extended recognition for training: CAI trainees who have completed 18 months on call in an ICU with full JFICMI accreditation may have an additional 2 months of ICM modular training time allocated to their training portfolio.
The JFICMI has also introduced limited accreditation category for smaller ICUs who have 200-400 level 3 admissions per year and who do not have a separate ICU consultant rota but are compliant with all other elements of the standards document and have a “2 + 2” (consultant + trainee) anaesthesia / critical care rota in place.
Board Developments:
At the March Board meeting Prof Ger Curley (Critical Care Trials Group) and Dr Sinead McArdle (Emergency Medicine) were co-opted to the board to represent the CCTG and Emergency Medicine trainees respectively.
Nomination date for Board elections were extended due to COVID19 pandemic. There will be 2 vacancies on the board to fill.
Ad Eundem Fellowship applications
The Board recently approved the expansion of the credentials committee by two members (Drs Ruth-Aoibheann O’Leary and Jennifer Hastings) and it also approved an updating of the criteria for Ad Eundem Fellowship applications. The new Ad Eundem criteria allow for further training periods and/or for the sitting of the FJFICMI exam, if deemed appropriate by the evaluation / validation process. There is also a new application fee.
Honorary Fellowship:
The JFICMI has decided to offer an honorary fellowship to Dr Ross Freebairn. Dr Freebairn is an international leader in ICM education and has visited Ireland on many occasions to spearhead and assist with the rollout of the BASIC and Advanced BASIC training programs. This was unanimously endorsed by the board and is planned for 2021.
The next board meeting of the JFICMI will be on the 18th June 2020. Communications with the Board is via the secretariat or its various committees or via your elected representatives (including the two Trainee representatives) on the Board.
Watch: National Intensive Care COVID Research & Scientific Conference
To view the public session from the National Intensive Care COVID Research & Scientific Conference click here.
The National COVID Research and Scientific meeting took place on Saturday September 5th . Hosted by The Intensive Care Society of Ireland, the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of Ireland and the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland, the meeting will focused on the experience of Irish Intensivists and Anaesthesiologists in the management of critically ill patients with COVID 19.
Diagnosis of Brain Death in Adults – Guidelines 2020
Brain Death Guidelines September 2020
Intensive Care Medicine Grand Rounds
The second series of ICM grand rounds returns on Thursday 23rd February at 6PM.
Fortnightly lectures will be delivered by Consultants in Intensive Care Medicine, by visiting experts and thought leaders in the field, and by mentored Intensive Care Medicine fellows.
ICM Grand Rounds are designed to facilitate up-to-date knowledge dissemination and discussion regarding clinical issues in Intensive Care Medicine. The format each week will consist of a 25 minute lecture followed with 5 minutes for questions/discussion, the second item will be a 10 minutes challenging case followed by 10 minutes presentation of evidence/guidelines pertaining to the case with discussion.
Videos will be posted on the education tab
Week 1- The Mater Hospital – 23rd February at 6pm
Teams Link Details
The link for this week’s meeting can be found on the image below, within the attached E flyer and at the bottom of this invite. Participants can also use the QR code located on the image to access Microsoft Teams. Once the ‘Teams’ link is opened participants will be required to log into the meeting using the Meeting ID 383 922 989 446 and Passcode D3rV6.
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 383 922 989 446
Passcode: VD3rV6
Download Teams | Join on the web
For further information contact susannelalor@rcsi.com
Dean’s Update
Dear all
Q1 is always a busy time for the Joint Faculty as we plan for the year ahead and so far, 2025 has been no exception. Regarding our training posts, we have recently completed a second round of recruitment for the July intake and interest in ICM training in Ireland continues to be high. ICUs will be notified shortly about their final allocations.
The FJFICMI examination takes place on April 24th (written exam) and May 29th (oral exam). The Exam Preparation course took place last week. Many thanks to all the staff who contributed their time and efforts to delivering an excellent course.
The first JFICMI Trainee Study Day took place in the Mater Hospital on February 17th. There was a great mix of lectures and practical teaching stations, including a group simulation exercise. Feedback was very positive from the trainee group. The next 2 trainee days in 2025 will be on June 23rd in St James’s Hospital and in Galway on October 24th.
The fortnightly ICU Grand Rounds series continues under the safe stewardship of Ger Curley and Aisling McMahon. If you are unable to join the live meetings, I strongly encourage everyone to view the recordings on the Joint Faculty website. Such is their quality, they would not be out of place at an international intensive care meeting. We are fortunate to have such high levels of expertise and experience within our Irish ICU and anaesthesiology community.
Following our recent election, I would like to welcome the 3 successful candidates – Dr Orsolya Miskolci, Dr Aisling McMahon and Dr Aidan Magee – to the Joint Faculty Board.
Finally, we await the recommendations of the working groups convened in response to the changes to the Anaesthesiology CSCST. We look forward to working with the CAI and our colleagues around the country to explore solutions mutually beneficial to consultants, doctors in training and to patients.
Enda
Dr Enda O’Connor,
Dean,
Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of Ireland.