Placement guidance for Intensive Care Medicine

During the first two years of ACCS training, doctors spend six months in ICM.

Intensive Care Medicine (ICM), also referred to as critical care medicine, is the body of specialist knowledge and practice concerned with the treatment of patients, with, at risk of, or recovering from potentially life-threatening failure of one or more of the body’s organ systems. It includes the provision of organ system support, the investigation, diagnosis, and treatment of acute illness, systems management and patient safety, ethics, end-of-life care, and the support of families.

During your six months placement in critical care you will have the opportunity to cover a range of both clinical and generic Learning Outcomes (LOs) and in particular LOs 3, 6, and 8. The number of observations of work required is not fixed: the total number of assessments completed is less important than the quality of the assessments and breadth of cases covered. The level of independence expected of you for each of the LOs is already set out. Please see the Assessment Strategy for further details.

So in summary, during your six month placement in Intensive Care Medicine you should:

· Complete a selection of Workplace Based Assessments (WPBAs) including an MSF

· Undertake a multiple consultant report

· Maintain your log book

· Attend any specific tutorials and education sessions as required by your deanery

· Consider undertaking the e-Learning for Healthcare modules in Intensive Care Medicine (e-ICM)