Royal College of Emergency Medicine

History

The College in its current form was incorporated by royal charter in 2008. However the history of its preceding organisations, the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine (FAEM) and the British Association for Emergency Medicine (BAEM), date back to 1993 and 1967 respectively.

The first "casualty consultant" in the UK was Maurice Ellis appointed at Leeds General Infirmary in 1952. The BAEM was founded as the Casualty Surgeons Association (CSA) on 12 October 1967. This was a year before the American College of Emergency Physicians. The specialty was developed over the years, with the first UK specialty exam in emergency medicine held in 1983. The CSA adopted the British Accident & Emergency Medicine Journal and Archives of Emergency Medicine as its journals in 1985. The CSA changed its name to the BAEM in 1990. The BAEM helped found the International Federation for Emergency Medicine in 1991 along with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP), and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).

The intercollegiate FAEM was inaugurated on 2 November 1993 with six parent colleges: the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and the Royal College of Anaesthetists. It was tasked with developing academic and training issues, whilst the BAEM had responsibility for professional and clinical matters.

In late 2005, FAEM reached agreement with the British Association for Emergency Medicine (BAEM) for the two organizations to merge to form a new College of Emergency Medicine. The Faculty was renamed the College of Emergency Medicine as of 1 January 2006 and it merged with BAEM in February 2008. The headquarters of the new organisation moved to Churchill House in London on 29 August 2006, the former headquarters of the BAEM. In February 2012 the College moved to newly purchased headquarters at 7-9 Bream's Buildings London.

Dr Clifford Mann was appointed president of the College in 2013, and has been an outspoken critic of the Coalition government's Health and Social Care Act 2012 which he blames both for causing "decision-making paralysis" and leaving the country short of around 375 emergency doctors.

The college was given the Royal title in January 2015.

Role of the Royal College

The College sets standards of training and administers examinations for emergency physicians. It also organises annual scientific meetings, as well as continuing professional development meetings for its members.

Examinations

The College sets two examinations, the Membership of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (MRCEM), and the higher Fellowship of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (FRCEM).

The first sitting of the FRCEM was in October 1996 as the Fellowship of the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine (FFAEM) examination. The first examination for the MRCEM was in 2003 as the Membership of the Faculty of A&E Medicine (MFAEM). Both examinations were renamed in 2006 as part of the creation of the college as FCEM and MCEM respectively. Their titles were updated in 2015 when the college acquired its Royal charter.

Membership of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine or MRCEM is a qualification awarded by examination by the College. The examination is now the preferred route of entry to specialist registrar training. The examination has three parts: part A: a true/false written paper consisting of 50 questions each with four parts based mostly around the basic sciences; part B: a written short answer question exam; part C: a practical OSCE style exam based on the whole curriculum.

Membership & Fellowship

Trainees who pass the MCEM join the college as a Member, and are eligible to join a specialty registrar training program in emergency medicine. Doctors who complete this training program may sit the FCEM examination, and on completion become a Fellow of the College and may be recommended by the College for a Certificate of Completion of Training in emergency medicine.