Friday, 26 April, 2019
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:
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.