A Qualification Course in an International Emergency Medicine Intervention

Background: The Tuscan Emergency Medicine Initiative is a comprehensive training program for physicians designed to create a lasting infrastructure for training in emergency medicine (EM) in a region of Italy. A “Train-the-Trainers” model was utilized to prepare physicians who were working in the emergency department (ED) to become the teachers of EM, and a master's program was created to train the next generation of emergency physicians as well as to put in place a structure into which residency training in EM will be placed. This model has been used in other projects as well; however, the dilemma of what to do with physicians who are already in practice remained an unsolved problem. Objectives: We wished to create a qualification course in EM for this important group of physicians. Methods: Didactic lectures, workshops, simulations, and clinical rotations were utilized to standardize current emergency care delivery in the region's EDs. Results: Between 2005 and 2008, 488 physicians completed the program. Conclusions: We propose this model as a way of training and including the physicians caught in the transition to specialty training in any area developing the specialty of EM.