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

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

The majority of EM-ACPs currently working towards credentialing should consider switching to the 2022 ACP curriculum (the ePortfolio will remain on the Kaizen risr/advance platform but will look and function differently for those on the 2022 curriculum). This document briefly summarises how you might make your decision.

2022 ACP Curriculum Transition Principles

Transition to the 2022 ACP curriculum should not result in more work for tACPs or their supervisors. However, it is strongly recommended that EM-ACPs meet with their Educational Supervisor as soon as possible following transition to identify existing evidence that will remain applicable to the 2022 curriculum and that which will need to be completed post-transition. We have published detailed transition guidance to assist ACPs and supervisors with this process.

2022 ACP Curriculum Transition Guidance

To request transition to the 2022 ACP curriculum within the ePortfolio, ACPs should click on Create a new event and complete the Curriculum Migration form. ACPs must also email  ePortfolio@rcem.ac.uk to notify the ePortfolio team that this form has been submitted. Migration should be completed within 10 working days.

Please note: prior to submitting a transition request, ACPs must ensure all open forms/tickets are closed and all requested MSF responses received. The Educational Supervisor will also need to ensure they have completed (and saved as final) the STR and FEGS for the year leading up to transition as the 2017 forms will no longer be accessible once the ACP has been migrated to the 2022 curriculum.

If an ACP has already transitioned to the 2022 ACP curriculum without the STR and FEGS having been completed for the year prior to transition, the Educational Supervisor will need to complete these reports using the templates provided below. These should be saved as a PDF file, uploaded to the document library within the ePortfolio by the ACP, and linked to the credentialing checklist prior to submission.

Structured Training Report (2017 curriculum)

Faculty Educational Governance Statement (2017 curriculum)

Important information for ACPs and current or future ACP Educational Supervisors (February 2023)

All ACPs working towards the RCEM EM-ACP credential should, by now, have met with their Educational Supervisors to decide whether they may remain on the 2017 ACP curriculum or will need to transition to the 2022 ACP curriculum. If this discussion has not yet taken place, please arrange to meet as soon as possible.

In response to questions raised by both ACPs and Supervisors regarding the transition process, the following guidance has been produced. This includes information on who will need to transition, ePortfolio migration, actions to take prior to migration, RCEM ACP Supervisor training, the new RCEM ACP Educational Supervisor role on the ePortfolio platform, and the Foundation Sign-Off required for all ACPs credentialing on the 2022 curriculum.

RCEM EM-ACP curriculum (2022) – Important information for ACPs and ACP Educational Supervisors

Help Sheets

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 ELSE
• 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)

Emergency Medicine ACP Credentialing Process 2022 curriculum

For information on the EM-ACP credentialing process for the 2017 ACP curriculum, including application window dates for 2024, please visit the Emergency Medicine – Advanced Clinical Practitioner (EM-ACP) page of the website.

There will be two credentialing opportunities in 2024 – in Spring and Autumn. In Autumn 2024 there will be two separate application windows – one for ACPs submitting a new application or full resubmission, and a later one for ACPs who received a ‘limited resubmission’ outcome in Spring 2024 and wish 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.

All portfolios must be signed-off by an ACP Educational Supervisor who meets the eligibility criteria stipulated in the regulations. For ACPs submitting an adult or concurrent adult and children credentialing application, the ACP Educational Supervisor 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).

They must also:

• be on the GMC specialist register in Emergency Medicine and 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

ACPs submitting an application to credential in children must have an ACP Educational Supervisor who either meets all criteria above OR:

• is on the GMC specialist register in Paediatrics or Emergency Medicine with sub-specialty accreditation in Paediatric Emergency Medicine
• is employed as a substantive consultant
• has completed RCEM ACP supervisor training (2022 curriculum)
• is a GMC-recognised trainer.

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

2024 EM-ACP Credentialing application dates (2022 curriculum)

Application fee structure

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