The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) engaged HMA to develop a framework and guidelines to inform the Emergency Medicine Education and Training program from 2017 and beyond.
ACEM has been delivering the Emergency Medicine Education and Training (EMET) program on behalf of the Department of Health since 2012. The program aims to provide emergency medicine specialist education and training to a large number of doctors and nurses. A proposed new round of funding presented a timely opportunity for ACEM to strengthen the EMET program. A framework and guidelines were needed to guide operational aspects of ACEM’s management of the EMET program.
The project aim was to increase the rigor around the application, selection and management of EMET sites funded under the National Program. The key objectives of this project were to develop:
- A framework linking the overarching elements of the EMET program including:
- history of the program
- aims and objectives
- governance/ administration processes
- process for new applications and process for review of existing applicants
- delivery types (e.g. Outreach and In House, Fly- In FACEM, Outreach Only), and
- EM Certificate and Diploma within the EMET program.
- Guidelines on:
- use of funding
- use of resources developed in the program
- key performance indicators, and
- reporting requirements.
HMA conducted the project in five stages:
- Project initiation: HMA confirmed a detailed project plan with ACEM and provided fortnightly status reports throughout the life of the project.
- Situation analysis: HMA consulted with members of the Working Group and reviewed program documentation to gain a comprehensive understanding of the EMET program context and identified the design features of the framework and guidelines.
- Working group: HMA collated key findings from initial considerations preparing the situation analysis into a discussion paper. The discussion paper covered preliminary criteria for the guidelines and identified priorities for EMET site selection and assessment processes. HMA sought feedback on the discussion paper from ACEM and the Working Group.
- Drafting the framework and guidelines: based on work undertaken in previous stages, HMA drafted the framework and guidelines and sought feedback from ACEM and the Working Group.
- Final report: including recommendations for the evaluation framework and the final framework and guidelines.
The project commenced in May 2016 and was completed in October 2016.
