Guidance on attendance at Regional Training days during your ACCS rotation

The following article provides guidance on the attendance at Regional Training days for ACCS trainees.

Eligibility to attend the training days is as follows:

  • All ACCS trainees (regardless of base specialty) can attend the Regional ACCS teaching during their AM and EM posts. The programme will be directed to cover the AM and EM elements of the curriculum.
  • EM and AM trainees can continue to attend this training throughout their 3 years of ACCS.
  • Anaesthetic trainees are invited to attend the FRCA and FICM training throughout their 3 years of ACCS training. EM and AM trainees whilst working in Anaesthetics and ICM can also attend the FRCA and FICM training if they wish.

The programme covers the ACCS EM, AM and elements of the ICM curriculum on a rolling basis. The anaesthetic ACCS curriculum and very specialty specific elements of the ICM curriculum (e.g. ventilator management) are not included in this generic programme because the local Trust training on these elements is very good and inclusion will make it impossible to cover the whole curriculum.

 The ‘New to’ days will continue in AM, EM, and ICM around February and August. The Novice Anaesthetic course will continue to run every 6 months. Please attend the ‘New to’/Novice day when you are starting in that post.

The ‘ACCS Generic Clinical Skills Day’ has received excellent feedback and will continue to run twice per year, organised by Dom Janssen. This day is designed to help you gain experience of all those ‘difficult to get practical procedures’. It is a full simulation day hosted by NBT. Each trainee should be able to attend one of these days during their 2 years. Initially it is opened to CT2 trainees to ensure you can get procedures signed off prior to completing ACCS and if spaces remain it is then opened up to CT1s.

All courses should be booked onto through the events listing on this website: http://accs.severndeanery.nhs.uk/events. It is your responsibility to ensure you keep up to date on all courses by regularly checking the events listing and reading the monthly newsletter.

It is expected that you will attend the training days unless you are on nights, annual leave, sick leave or other approved study leave. This is to ensure you fully benefit from the training on offer. We fully appreciate that staffing/rota crises happen and there may be occasional circumstances when you can’t gain study leave to attend a day but if this becomes a recurring problem please let us know and we will follow this up with your training department.

The programme will be advertised and updated regularly on the ACCS Severn website. http://accs.severndeanery.nhs.uk/. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are up to date on all courses that are being run by regularly checking the events page and the monthly newsletter.

‘New 2’ Introductory Days

During your training there are four introductory modular training days that you are expected to attend: New2ICU, Novice Anaesthetist, New2AM and New2EM.

These are training courses that you will attend at the start of the relevant rotation. The courses are each run twice a year in Jan/Feb and again in Aug/Sept, to coincide with your rotation changes.  Please do not apply to attend these days when you are not on the associated rotation. All of these courses are fully funded by the School of ACCS however we do need you to apply for study leave to attend. Places are limited, and failure to register in good time may mean you are unable to attend.

Registering for ‘New 2’ Training Days

These New2 training days are mandatory and every effort should be made to attend.  

New2ICU.  This course provides practical, hands-on experience enabling you to be capable and proficient in the basic requirements of postgraduate doctors in the running of an intensive care unit both during the day and at night. It will also teach you the skills and knowledge you will require to manage emergency situations prior to the arrival of senior help. You will receive an invitation to attend this course as start of your ICM block.

Novice Anaesthetist. This course covers management of critical incidents with a focus on airway, respiratory, and cardiovascular problems.   You will receive an invitation to attend this course as start of your Anaesthetics block. 

New2EM. This course will provide an introduction to emergency medicine to complement your local departmental induction. You will receive an invitation to attend this course as start of your EM block. 

New2AM. You will receive an invitation to attend this course as start of your AM block.

Regional ACCS Training Days

The Regional ACCS training days are usually held on the second Tuesday of each month. The training days rotate through the 6 Trusts around the Region. Please see the events listing for more details.

An exact attendance figure is not stipulated however it is expected that trainees will attend the training days unless they are on nights, annual leave, sick leave or other approved study leave. We fully appreciate that staffing/rota crises happen and there may be occasional circumstances when trainees can’t gain study leave to attend a day but if this becomes a recurring problem please let us know and we will follow it up. We will review the number of training days you have attended at your ARCP.

EM ST3 trainees are expected to attend monthly regional teaching. If you have passed FRCEM Intermediate exam then you should attend the HST teaching. The programme for this is available via Severn EM website http://emergency.severndeanery.nhs.uk/events. If you have not passed the exam then you should continue to attend the ACCS Regional teaching days which are designed to cover the ACCS curriculum and help you prepare for the exam.  

Attending other Regional Teaching

ACCS trainees may wish to use some of their study leave time to attend other regional teaching on offer and the ACCS School supports this. This is within the parameters of the trainees 30 days of study leave per year. Internal study leave is used for local teaching and the Regional ACCS teaching programme is considered part of this, external study leave is for other courses e.g. other Regional teaching (FRCA days, FICM days, CMT days), resus courses, conferences, etc.

Core Medical Training Days

CMT training days are designed primarily for those working in medical specialties and preparing for MRCP, but ACCS-AM trainees are able to attend where possible. The content is relevant for all ACCS trainees currently working in acute medicine.

The ACCS School has ring-fenced 3 spaces at each IMT training day for ACCS trainees to use. This means you do not have to pay to attend but you do need to complete the online registration form. If more than 3 trainees would like to attend a IMT training day then please contact Karen Fishenden (ACCS School Support Manager) and we can arrange to increase our quota. All forthcoming IMT Training Days appear under Events where you will also find an online registration form.

Anaesthetic Primary FRCA teaching

Anaesthetic core training days are aimed at those in CT1/2 anaesthetic training, preparing for the primary FRCA exam. ACCS-anaesthetic trainees are encouraged to attend where possible.  EM and AM ACCS trainees are welcome to attend the Primary FRCA teaching but it can be quite exam focused. You should discuss which training days you would like to attend with your Educational Supervisor at your first appraisal meeting.

Please see the Events tab for a detailed list of all forthcoming primary teaching days for CT1 and 2's in Anaesthesia.

These training days take place in various hospitals around the region; the topics in the syllabus are mapped to the expertise in different locations. In order to maximise the learning opportunities attendees may be asked to complete either on-line Anaesthetic e-learning modules or specific reading tasks prior to each session, so that these act more like a workshop/tutorial and less like a lecture.

FICM teaching

ACCS trainees are invited to attend the FICM teaching days. These occur monthly and are held around the Region. ACCS trainees can attend free of charge. The details are available on the Severn ACCS website.