Workforce, training and education
East of England

Health Education England, working across the East of England:

Acute Medicine:

Welcome to Acute Medicine in the East of England deanery. Acute Medicine is a vibrant, rewarding, and rapidly evolving medical specialty, concerned with the assessment, diagnosis and management of adults presenting to secondary care with acute medical illness. Acute Medicine involves the management of busy acute medical units (AMUs), Ambulatory Care Units (Same Day Emergency Care) to ensure they deliver high-quality, efficient and patient centred care, Short Stay Units.

We are a large region geographically which means in your training you can experience the differences in working in a metropolitan Cambridge, to working in a rural DGH ensuring you experience a range of ways of working. We as a specialty prioritize trainee preferences in hospital rotations and are proactive in trying to prevent unnecessarily long commutes.

This website provides an overview of the Acute Medicine Specialist Training scheme and provides information required for trainees. 

The four-year program is designed to provide trainees with a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) with the option of dually accrediting in another speciality. 

You have to have completed Core trainees from Core Medical Training (CMT), or IMT and Acute Care Common Stem (ACCS) are eligible to apply for the Acute Medicine StR programme.

 

Health Education East of England (the former Multi-Professional Deanery) has been in the forefront of this development with long established units in the Norfolk and Norwich University Foundation Trust Hospital and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Addenbrooke’s), and many district general hospitals. Although models of care vary, all units manage patients for up to 24 hours, stabilizing critically unwell patients and working in liaison with specialty physicians and primary care. 

 

Attractions of the Specialty

Acute Medicine offers an exciting and varied workload with fantastic opportunities for lifelong learning. An academic basis has been established and interest in research into this field is strongly encouraged.

It provides a great opportunity to be involved with and help shape the future of this new specialty. The development of other skills including education, critical care, management, and ultrasound are actively supported.

Consultant expansion is expected, demand for Consultants is high and therefore job prospects are excellent.

 

Training 

Training concentrates not only on recognition and management of acute medical emergencies, but also on the development of ambulatory care systems, and the acquisition of skills in Focused Ultrasound, Leadership and Management of AMU as a whole.

There is also a requirement to develop an additional specialist skill (usually in the form of either a professional qualification, a procedural skill, or a research degree. Common examples include diplomas in medical education or toxicology and practical skills such as bed side echo). There are also options to extend training and gain extra qualifications in stroke/critical care to CCT level.

Training includes time on AMU with a focus on managerial AMU experience towards the end of higher specialist training. There are also mandatory attachments in respiratory medicine, cardiology, acute elderly care and intensive care. Rotations may also include others such as gastroenterology/neurology/stroke but this varies from region to region.

 

Focus on medical problems and ongoing care 

The specialty is distinct from emergency medicine (ED), because it focuses specifically on medical problems and includes more responsibility for ongoing care - although acute physicians do work in close collaboration with emergency medicine specialists. There is also a close relationship with critical care and most specialities will offer degrees of in-reach into the AMU.

 

Training Programme
Hospitals in the East of England Acute Medicine Programme
Rotation Information
Trust / Specialty Information
New Starter Information
Specialty Skills / Interests
Teaching
Educational Resources for AIM training
Resources to help you prepare for the AIM SCE
ARCP
Study Leave
Further Advice & Useful Links
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Saturday19June2021
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