Updates from Specialist Advisory Committee
The Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC) of June 2017 discussed the sign off of procedural competences relating to Sengstaken-Blakemore tube insertion and transvenous cardiac pacing and the application for chief registrar roles.
Trainee Update, Winter 2017 Read More
It was lovely to catch up with so many Acute Internal Medicine trainees at our spring meeting in Bristol and great to see such a positive response towards our specialty. I hope that many of you will join us for the autumn meeting in Manchester which will be held on the 10-11th September; registration and abstract submissions are already live on the SAM website.
Trainee Update May 2015 Read More
We are trying to build a database of regional Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) trainee reps so we can get a better idea of regional training issues to feedback to the SAC (the national training committee). If any of you could drop us a quick e-mail to the addresses below with the name of your Deanery representative, along with any current issues it would greatly help us on our way!
Trainee Update March 2015 Read More
It was great to see so many of you at SAM Dublin at the beginning of May. For those of you who could not make it to the conference, we thought it would be helpful to summarise some of the best bits within this newsletter. We have concentrated on areas we felt were most relevant to you and your training.
As trainees in Acute Medicine, you will almost certainly have had to explain the concept of your specialty at some point – both to members of the public and to NHS staff, who may still be unfamiliar with the purpose of the Acute Medical Unit and the role of the Acute Physician.
We have been aware for a while that there are disparities in specialist skill provision both between and within deaneries – and the SAC is working hard to identify problems in this area. More recently, the issue of funding for specialist skills has been raised. It seems that some deaneries are happy and able to contribute towards the cost of training in a particular skill, while others are not; in at least one deanery, part-funding has now been withdrawn, leaving trainees to cover the entire cost of their chosen skills training. As specialist skill training is now a mandatory part of the Acute Medicine curriculum, we need to find a way to eliminate disparity both between different deaneries and between different skills. However, there is no easy solution, and for the time being, trainees will have to factor in the potential financial implications of a particular skill when they are considering their options.
Acute Medicine Trainee Update Read More
The new trainee section of the Acute Medicine journal gives us an excellent opportunity to keep trainees up-to-date with the latest news. We will provide you with a summary of relevant information coming directly from both the Society for Acute Medicine and the Acute Medicine Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC).
First of all, thank you and goodbye to Ruth Johnson who’s leaving the ranks of trainees and joining the Consultant body in Herefordshire imminently; Ruth has worked hard over the last two years representing trainees and we wish her well for the future.
I hope you have all settled well into your new jobs and a very warm welcome to those that have recently joined the ‘family’ of acute medicine. I would first of all like to thank Ruth Johnson for all her hard work as trainee representative over the last 18 months and wish her all the best as she ventures into consultant territory: her replacement will be announced later in the autumn.
July was a busy month, dominated by our Acute Medicine Awareness Week, during which AMUs across the UK undertook events to raise the profile of the speciality and the important work they were doing locally. Barnsley completed a 25 mile virtual marathon, Crosshouse Hospital made £350 in a cake sale, Salford Royal staff walked around every acute medical unit in Greater Manchester, North Staffordshire staff ran a half marathon and there was more cake on sale in Kings College and Leicester Royal. The AMU staff at Southampton raised over £400 with their cake sale and cycle challenge, during which they were joined by the Trust Chief Executive for a ‘virtual’ 120 miles on an exercise bike situated outside the hospital entrance. The highlight, however was the contribution of Dr Nigel Lane, an acute medicine trainee from Southmead Hospital in North Bristol, who put together an outstanding weekly programme of events. This included a visit from the Chief Executive of the trust, visit from local GPs to the unit, daily MDT teaching, daily ‘messages of the day’ located on the trust website and lots of screensavers, banners and information scattered throughout the hospital. I am delighted to announce that Nigel has received the SAM awareness week prize. This involves the opportunity to join the European School of Internal Medicine and attend the winter EFIM school camp in Latvia.
Nigel will also be joining us as one of the speakers in the trainee session at SAM Brighton. He will be speaking on “Preparing for your PYA”. There will also be talks in the trainee session on “Keeping your e-portfolio updated”, “Choosing your specialist skill” and “Preparing for your consultant job”. The session will be aimed at both junior and senior trainees. The trainee that has produced the best poster at Brighton will also have a chance to win a place to attend the summer EFIM school camp. The day before the conference starts there will be a SCE revision session. I attended last year and found it extremely helpful!
Looking forward to seeing you all in Brighton. In the meantime if you have any problems or suggestions please tweet or email me at the addresses below.
Trainee Update September 2014 Read More
We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Apart from making all the usual resolutions, New Year is always a time to think about our careers, look at our CV’s and strive to improve ourselves towards our ARCP or CCT. Our spring conference will take place in Amsterdam this May on 1st-2nd May and there is plenty of opportunity for you to get involved! This year we will be joined by the Dutch Medical Society (DAM). The SAM conferences always provides us with an opportunity for networking, presenting our hard work and meeting other trainees throughout the UK (and in this case Holland). It will be interesting to hear what the Dutch trainees think about their training and how it is structured. There is a dedicated session on acute medical education and training. It will be useful to certainly combine and share ideas with our Dutch colleagues. We certainly could learn a lot from each other and therefore improve our training.
Our acute awareness week will take place on 14th-20th July. This is a huge chance for us to raise awareness of our speciality to the public and other hospital workers. You often find that people don’t understand what acute medicine actually is or what an acute medical registrar or consultant actually does. This is an opportunity for us to ‘celebrate’ our speciality and enjoy team bonding. The junior doctors enjoy getting involved and this often encourages them to think about a career in acute medicine. Full details and information packs will be available via our website shortly. We will be interested to hear what you are all planning as we both have a huge part to play in this year’s acute awareness week. Perhaps one day we could have a training awareness day? It would be great if you got in touch with us to let us know your plans or suggestions! We hope to see as many of you in Amsterdam. Please feel free to contact us with any suggestions, ideas or concerns
Trainee Update January 2014 Read More