What do I have to do to
sit the FCICM?
© James Austin 2011
There are two main routes to sitting the FCICM.
Most candidates are trainees from Australia, New Zealand or Hong
Kong, for whom training requirements include:
- A six-year training programme, consisting of three basic
training years (BTYs), and three advanced training years (ATYs). The six years must include:
- At least 36 months of ICU (12 months in BTYs and 24 months in ATYs). At least one of the ICU 'core years' must be 12
months continuous training in an approved unit; and at
least 12 months must be spent in 'C24' approved units in
Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong (there are C12 units in England, Ireland, India, Singapore and Canada);
- At least 12 months of anaesthetics;
- At least
12 months of internal medicine (or paediatric medicine
for PICU trainees), of which 6 months should be at registrar level;
- The remaining training time may involve any combination of
intensive care, anaesthesia, internal medicine, surgery,
emergency medicine, research or other relevant
experience. See CICM's Training Program for the full info.
- Passing the FCICM Primary, or the FRACP
(Australian MRCP), or the FANZCA (Anaesthetic)
Primary, or an equivalent exam, prior to commencing ATYs.
- Completion of the ADAPT course (Australasian Donor
Awareness Programme).
- 'Formative assessments': Examining
and presenting four ICU patients to your local supervisor
in the six months prior to sitting the FCICM Final Exam
(as a warm-up for the clinical 'Hot Case' exam).
- Passing the FCICM Final exam, available in either adult
or paediatric flavour. Either exam involves a written
component (short-answer questions), clinical exams in
intensive care and general medical cases, and a
viva exam (the OSCE exam was dismantled in 2008).
You must have completed the basic training (BTYs) and at
least one 'core year' of advanced training (ATY) before
you can sit the exam.
- A 'Formal Project' - this "should
preferably be a prospective scientific study, but may be
an evidence-based systematic review, a retrospective
study or a case series. Individual case reports will not
be accepted." The formal project may be completed
after the exam.
An alternative route to sitting the FCICM, for those who have
already completed Intensive Care Training in another country and
wish to live and work in Australia, is via assessment as an
Overseas-Trained Specialist (OTS). Being granted specialist
recognition does not automatically lead to being granted the
FCICM - you can only become a FCICM if you sit the exam - but
assessment as an OTS allows you bypass some or all of the
training requirement, if you have received similar training
overseas. Application is made via the Australian Medical Council (AMC), with a tremendous
amount of paperwork. The AMC refers such applications to the CICM,
which will compare your training and qualifications to those of
Australasian trainees. For specialist recognition, the CICM will
often require that you spend a year or two in 'supervised
practice' in Australia, and may require you to sit their exam as
well (without going through the requirements listed above -
though you still have to do the 'Formative Assessments'). Once
you have satisfied them that your training and qualifications are
equivalent, you may be recognised as a specialist; if you want to
go on to become a FJFICM, you must then still sit the exam,
though you may be exempted from the written part of the
exam.
A similar system for Overseas-Trained Specialists operates in
New Zealand via the MCNZ. However, my impression is that it is
somewhat easier to work as an intensivist without having the
FCICM in New Zealand than in Australia, particularly in the
district hospitals.