Examinations

Overview

The fellowship examination of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of Ireland is composed of two sections: a written examination and an oral/clinical examination, both of which cover the theory and practical aspects of modern intensive care medicine. The examination is based on the syllabus as set out in the competencies, teaching opportunities and training assessments in intensive care medicine. In order to be invited to the clinical examination, the candidate must pass the written examination.

The regulations and format of the exam can be found on the standards and documents page

Eligibility and Application

To be eligible to sit the exam, the trainee must

1. Have completed the appropriate amount of training dependent on their base speciality area. Relevant information about training requirements located here. Training for purposes of the examination must be completed in an accredited JFICMI training centre.
2. Provide evidence of having passed Fellowship Examination in base specialty (FCAI/FRCPI/FRCSI/FRCEM)
3. Be registered as a trainee with the JFICMI
4. Have submitted the appropriate application to the JFICMI. Application forms can be found on the standards and documents page.
5. Have paid the appropriate fee

The Kaizen on-line platform ITAs are utilised to cross check modular completion and eligibility. From 2022 the exam application form will no longer require a department head sign-off. Where a module does not have an ITA, it will not be considered as an eligible module.

Examination Details

The JFICMI has an agreement with the Examinations office of the College of Anaesthetists of Ireland to conduct the exam on its behalf. This is done under the overall direction of the Faculty’s Examinations and Training Committee and its current chairman, Dr Donal Ryan. The examination is ran under the asupices of the CAI and their general exam regulations pertain to the FJFICMI.  The examiners are drawn from the training ICUs in Ireland and there is usually an Extern examiner. All are regulated by the stipulations relating to examiners in the link below, Organisation of JFICMI Examination.

Pre Examination Preparatory Course

The JFICMI Pre examination preparatory course is recommended for doctors who are sitting the Fellowship examination. This course takes place over 4 days in the following hospitals between February 27th – 1st March 2024:

The Mater Hospital
St Vincent’s University Hospital
St James’s Hospital
Beaumont Hospital (half day)

The application form for the preparatory course is on the standards and documents page and should be completed and returned to jficmi@coa.ie.

Previous exam short answer questions (SAQs)

Examination papers from 2009 to 2019 are available here. A model answer for an example SAQ is also available

Fellowship conferring

To be conferred with Fellowship of the JFICMI, the candidate must have passed the examination and completed at least one year of recognised, supra-specialty, competency-based training in intensive care medicine. The successful candidate will be conferred with fellowship by the Dean of the Faculty at a open ceremony.

Information for Examiners

To apply to be an examiner please review the document ‘Organisation of JFICMI Fellowship examination – incl. examiner regulations’, which is located under the ‘Exams register now’  button. In compliance with Examiner regulations, it will be necessary for new examiners to be assessed as a ‘shadow’ examiner in the first instance. Attendance at an examiners’ course is also recommended. Information on acting as an examiner can be found in the exam organisers guideline.