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EDIC Part 1 - An Overview

• December 24, 2019

The European Diploma of Intensive Care Medicine (EDIC) is a two-part examination. The EDIC exams test the professional conduct and theoretical competencies expected of doctors practicing intensive care medicine.

The General Medical Council has only very recently started to accept EDIC as a recognised postgraduate qualification for GMC Registration applications as of June 2019, and only if you passed EDIC after January 2015.

Once you have completed both EDIC exams and obtained a pass in IELTS or OET to evidence your English language skills, you will be eligible to apply for ST3+ posts with the NHS.

In this article, we will be covering what you can expect from EDIC Part 1 and provide you with some useful revision resources to help you prepare for the examination.

How much does it Cost?

Currently, part 1 of the EDIC exam costs €360 for European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) members and €510 for non-members.

Am I Eligible?

In order to be eligible to apply to sit Part 1 of EDIC, there are some requirements you must meet. You must have completed a year’s internship and:

Must either have completed or be currently enrolled in a national training programme in one of the following:

• Intensive Care Medicine (if it’s a primary specialty)
• General/Internal Medicine (and other medicine specialties)
• General Surgery (and other surgical specialties)
• Accident and Emergency Medicine
• Anaesthesiology
• Paediatrics

Or:

• Have completed 18 months’ training in Intensive Care Medicine.

What languages can EDIC be sat in?

EDIC can only be sat in English, regardless of the country you’re sitting the test in. This is so that ESICM may achieve standardisation to make the exam fairer.

EDIC Part 1 Format

The exam is a multiple choice (MCQ) written examination. The exam itself consists of 100 questions, featuring two types of question.

There will be type A questions, which feature questions with multiple choice answers labelled A to E, and you will need to select the most correct answer from the options provided.

There will also be type K questions, consisting of a statement, and you will need to decide whether the statement is true or false.

The questions you will need to answer will cover the entire spectrum of intensive care medicine, and may be/include:

• Medical based
• Ethics
• Basic medical science
• Pathophysiology of relevant diseases
• Physiology
• Interpretation of diagnostic data
• Therapeutics/toxicology
• Organ function replacement therapies
• Any other aspect relevant to the clinical practice of intensive care medicine.

Revision Resources

ESICM Resources

The ESICM provides some incredibly helpful revision resources on their website, so we would recommend utilising those. They offer and EDIC Part 1 refresher course, which you can find here.

They also have an academy page with a list of online resources here.

Books

Multiple Choice Questions in Intensive Care Medicine by Steve Benington MB ChB MRCP FRCA, Peter Nightingale and Maire Shelly MB ChB FRCA

Critical Care MCQS – A Companion for Intensive Care Exams by Steven Lobaz, Mika Hamilton, Alastair J. Glossop and Ajay H. Raithatha

Facebook Groups

Facebook groups can be an excellent study resource as you can interact with other doctors who are either planning to take the exam, or who have already attempted the exam, and can offer you helpful tips and advice.

ESICM Official Facebook page – They often post practice questions for the Part 1 exam on their Facebook page, as well as other resources.

EDIC Part 1 – April 2020

European Diploma of Intensive Care Medicine

If you don’t Pass

If you do not pass the exam first time, you will need to wait a year before you can attempt the examination again. If you do fail, try not to be discouraged. Use what you have learned from the experience and utilise this time to do some more studying and brush up on any areas you perhaps weren’t confident about prior to the first exam.

If you would like to know more about EDIC, you can find a full overview of the EDIC exams in a previous blog article.

If you have already passed EDIC Part 1 and would like some information on Part 2 of the exam, you can read our article on EDIC Part 2 here.

Good Luck with your Studies from everyone at BDI Resourcing!

If you’re a doctor with EDIC, and you would like some support in relocating to the UK and finding a job in the NHS, please email your CV to [email protected] and we can support you on your relocation journey.

Are you a member of our Facebook group? When you join IMG Advisor, you will join a community of doctors all looking to relocate to the UK and join the NHS. We post a series of blogs and vlogs to the group every day. We will also be on hand to answer any relocation queries you may have.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel! We have over 45 videos on everything you need to know about relocating to the UK and joining the NHS.

Listen to BDI Resourcing on the go with IMG Advisor the Podcast. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher and Buzzsprout. We have a number of episodes with tips and advice on obtaining GMC Registration and securing an NHS job.

References

Esicm.org. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.esicm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/EDIC-Guidelines-2017.pdf [Accessed 23 Dec. 2019].

ESICM. (2019). EDIC Part I - ESICM. [online] Available at: https://www.esicm.org/education/edic2-2/edic-partl/ [Accessed 23 Dec. 2019].

ESICM. (2019). EDIC Registration Process - ESICM. [online] Available at: https://www.esicm.org/education/edic2-2/edic-registration-process/ [Accessed 23 Dec. 2019].