The development of a national emergency medical services curriculum framework for physicians in Canada

Abstract

Background: As the role of emergency medical services (EMS) continues to expand, EMS physicians and medical directors require special skills and training to keep pace with the rapidly evolving subspecialty of EMS. In Canada, subspecialty training in EMS is still relatively new, and a standard national curriculum for physician EMS training does not exist.

Objective: To develop a national EMS curriculum for emergency medicine (EM) residents and fellows and an abbreviated curriculum for non-EM trainees and community physicians.

Methods: The authors obtained EMS curricula and opportunities from Canadian EM and EMS training programs and a sample of U.S. programs to determine existing curricula, and developed a framework for a national EMS curriculum using an expert working group of EMS medical directors and EMS leaders in Canada.

Results: Canadian EM residency training programs included an EMS rotation, but their content and depth of training were not uniform. The expert working group proposed a comprehensive set of training objectives, grouped into 16 categories, stratified by level of training.

Conclusion: The proposed framework and objectives are suitable for training medical students, family medicine trainees, community physicians, EM residents, and EMS fellows in Canada. The authors hope this article will serve as a guideline for residency and fellowship directors to develop their EMS training programs in a consistent manner, promote formal training for physicians involved in EMS, and help define the specific knowledge and expertise required of physicians who provide EMS medical direction in Canada.