Advanced Clinical Practitioner Curriculum

2022 Emergency Medicine Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) Curriculum

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) EM-ACP Curriculum provides the framework for Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) who wish to apply for credential status with the College. The curriculum defines the competences that the EM-ACP is expected to demonstrate and describes the expected standard and required evidence.

Following publication of the 2021 RCEM medical curriculum, the RCEM EM-ACP curriculum was refreshed and revised, adapting the content of the medical curriculum for ACPs, whilst retaining both the standard and breadth of practice defined in the previous RCEM ACP curriculum published in 2017.

The 2022 RCEM EM-ACP curriculum was launched on 05 September 2022. There are two separate curricula, one for adults and one for children, depending on scope of practice:

RCEM EM-ACP Curriculum (Adult)

RCEM EM-ACP Curriculum (Children)

The first credentialing panel for the 2022 ACP curriculum will be in Spring 2024, with the final opportunity to credential under the 2017 ACP curriculum being Autumn 2024. Please see the transition guidance below for advice on whether you will need to transition to the 2022 curriculum.

See the 2017 ACP Curriculum.

Regulations

These regulations pertain to the credentialing process for the 2022 Emergency Medicine ACP curriculum (adult and children). The first credentialing opportunity for the 2022 curriculum will be Spring 2024.

ACP Credentialing Regulations

March 2024: Timeframe for completing WPBAs and adding posts to ePortfolio

New academic requirement for credentialing from Spring 2026

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is keen to support EM-ACPs and ensure recognition of the RCEM Credential across specialty and institutional boundaries.

The RCEM Academic Committee in conjunction with the ACP Credentialing Sub-Committee and ACP Forum, have determined that from Spring 2026, ACPs must have a full Masters degree to achieve RCEM EM-ACP credentialing (adult or children) in line with the standards described in the four pillars of advanced practice. We believe this supports consistency across credentialing processes. ACPs will still be able to credential with a PGDip prior to Spring 2026.

ACPs who are about to commence or are in the early stages of development and evidence collection in anticipation of RCEM credentialing, should note this change and, if not intending to complete the full Masters, are advised to discuss this with their Educational Supervisor.

For further information, please email ACP@rcem.ac.uk

Transition Guidance

All ACPs on the credentialing pathway who remained on the 2017 ACP curriculum following implementation of the 2022 ACP curriculum in September 2022 must now transition to the new curriculum. Credentialing submissions against the 2017 curriculum will no longer be accepted.

To request migration to the 2022 ACP curriculum, ACPs will need to complete and submit the Curriculum Migration form within their ePortfolio. Migration should be completed within 10 working days.

Please note: prior to submitting the migration form, ACPs must ensure that all open events, such as workplace-based assessments (WBAs) awaiting completion by the assessor, have been completed and closed. MSF summary reports must also be generated. Any tickets that have not been closed will need to be resent once migration has been completed.

Educational Supervisors will also need to ensure that the STR and FEGS for the period prior to transition have been completed, as the 2017 forms will no longer be accessible once the ACP has been migrated to the 2022 curriculum.

It is strongly recommended that ACPs meet with their Educational Supervisor as soon after transition as possible to identify any existing evidence collected against the 2017 curriculum that will remain relevant to the 2022 curriculum, and that which will need to be completed post-transition. ACPs will need to relink existing evidence that remains applicable, and is within timescale, to the appropriate SLO/KCs and/or clinical syllabus elements within the 2022 ACP curriculum. We have published detailed guidance to assist ACPs and supervisors with the transition process.

2022 ACP Curriculum – Transition Guidance (updated October 2024)

Curriculum and Credentialing Guidance

RCEM has produced a series of help sheets providing additional advice and guidance on specific areas of the 2022 ACP curriculum. We will be adding further topics in due course.

• Overview of the curriculum
• Selecting a curriculum
• The clinical syllabus: coverage, evidence and linking to SLOs
• Demonstrating previous experience – CV, training advice and academic programme
• I am not a nurse or paramedic – can I credential with RCEM?
• Entrustment levels
• How to sign-off procedural skills
• How to do an ESLE
• Patient contacts and how best to use every contact
• Use of non-clinical time – evidencing the supporting SLOs
• Other evidence
• Linking and de-linking
• Educational meetings
• Utility of the FEGS and ESR
• I have trainee ACPs in my department – how can I get involved in their training?
• Preparing to submit – advice for ACPs and Educational Supervisors (includes checklists) – January 2024 update
• Patient logbook summary table template (adult)
• Patient logbook summary table template (children)
• ACP and Educational Supervisor Sign-off
• March 2024: ePortfolio linking issue affecting RP3 and RP4 (adult clinical syllabus and children clinical syllabus)
• March 2024: ePortfolio linking issue affecting oncological emergencies, pain and sedation, sexual health, vascular and other clinical presentations within the combined adult and children clinical syllabus

Emergency Medicine ACP Credentialing Process 2022 curriculum

There will be two credentialing opportunities in 2025 – in Spring and Autumn. Within each will be two separate application windows – one for ACPs submitting a new application or full resubmission, and a later one for ACPs who have received a ‘limited resubmission’ outcome and have been invited to submit their additional evidence to the following Panel for review.

ACPs who wish to apply must be confident, along with their ACP Educational Supervisor, that they will have appropriate evidence of acquisition of all required competences across the curriculum and clinical syllabus uploaded to their ePortfolio before the closing date (any evidence submitted after this date will not be considered except in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the Chair of the ACP Credentialing Panel).

To submit your credentialing application, you will be required to complete an online registration form once the application window opens. Details of the application fee structure can be found below.

ACPs submitting within the Spring 2025 application window will also be required to complete and upload a ‘map of evidence’ which will ensure that the Panel is able to locate and review the mandated evidence. The ‘map of evidence’ (templates below) must be uploaded to the RCEM ePortfolio as a Word document no later than Sunday 16 February 2025 using the ACP Document UPLOAD event and named ‘Map of evidence Spring 2025’.

Map of evidence (adult)

Map of evidence (children)

All portfolios must be signed-off by an ACP Educational Supervisor who meets the eligibility criteria stipulated in the regulations.

All ACP Educational Supervisors must:

• be on the Medical Register in the UK with no restrictions to practice
• be a GMC-recognised trainer
• have successfully completed RCEM ACP Supervisor Training (2022 curriculum).

For ACPs credentialing in adults, or adults and children concurrently, the ACP Educational Supervisor must also:

• be on the GMC specialist register in Emergency Medicine (with or without PEM) and be employed as a substantive EM consultant, OR
• be an Associate Specialist or Senior Specialty Doctor and be employed in a substantive role in Emergency Medicine

For ACPs credentialing in children only, the ACP Educational Supervisor must also:

• be on the GMC specialist register in Emergency Medicine (with or without PEM) and be employed as a substantive EM consultant in a paediatric Emergency Department, OR
• be on the GMC specialist register in Paediatrics with PEM and be employed as a substantive PEM consultant in a paediatric Emergency Department, OR
• be an Associate Specialist or Senior Specialty Doctor and be employed in a substantive role in Paediatric Emergency Medicine.

Please note: ACPs may continue to upload evidence to their portfolio after completing the online registration form until the application window closes.

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please email ACP@rcem.ac.uk

2025 EM-ACP Credentialing application dates

Dr Ruth Brown introduces the new ACP curriculum – Wednesday 22 June 2022

Introducing the ACP Curriculum/Showcasing the new ePortfolio – Thursday 4 August 2022

Launching the ACP curriculum – Monday 22 August 2022

ACP Credentialing webinar: the new 2022 curriculum – Thursday 19 October 2023

ePortfolio System upgrade – July 2024

As part of a system-wide upgrade to the risr/advance ePortfolio platform, the way that documents are uploaded has changed. As from 02 July 2024, the Document section has been replaced by a Files area and all documents, images, media files, etc. will now need to be uploaded as an ‘event. We have published detailed guidance to assist ACPs on the credentialing pathway with this process.

Changes to the ePortfolio platform – guidance for ACPs

Further information on the upgrade can be found on the RCEM ePortfolio page.