Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-11 | Page 14

J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 828–833 SPECIAL REPORT FOSTERING THE HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS IN PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE: THE EUROPEAN PRM BOARD STRATEGY FOR ENSURING OVERALL QUALITY OF REHABILITATION EDUCATION AND CARE Nikolaos BAROTSIS, MD 1A , Franco FRANCHIGNONI, MD 2B , Rolf FRISCHKNECHT, MD 3B , Alvydas JUOCEVICIUS, MD, PhD 4B , Angela McNAMARA, MD 5B , Xanthi MICHAIL, MD, PhD 6B , Guy VANDERSTRAETEN, MD, PhD 7B , Jean-Michel VITON, MD, PhD 8B and Maria Gabriella CERAVOLO, MD, PhD 9C From the 1 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Patras University Hospital, Rion, Greece, 2 ICS Maugeri, IRCCS, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Unit of Lissone Institute (MB), Lissone, Italy, 3 Centre for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland, 4 Vilnius university hospital Santaros Klinikos (PRM Center) – Faculty of Health Sciences Klaipėda University, Klaipėda, Vilnius, Lithuania, 5 National Rehabilitation and Mater University Hospitals, Dublin, Ireland, 6 University of West Attika, Athens, Greece, 7 Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium, 8 Department of PRM, University Hospital La Timone, AP-HM, Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France, and 9 Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Politecnica delle Marche University, Ancona, Italy The harmonization of staff education is a key ele- ment for ensuring the highest standard of rehabilita- tion care across Europe. With this aim, the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) has created a Common Training Framework, which consists of a common set of knowledge, skills and competencies for postgraduate medical training. As a body linked to the Physical and Rehabilitation (PRM) Section of the UEMS, the European PRM Board is committed to promoting the harmonization of PRM physicians’ qualifications. The European PRM Board accomp­ lishes this mission, not only by determining the theo- retical knowledge necessary for the practice of the PRM specialty, and the core competencies (training outcomes) to be achieved at the end of training, but also by ascertaining that a standard level of educa- tion is achieved and maintained by PRM physicians, through a medically driven system of certification. This paper provides an overview of the methodology and outcomes of the European PRM Board examina- tion, while showing how the approach to PRM edu- cation should be considered as a reference point by scientific societies, higher education institutions, health policymakers, patients’ associations, and all the other bodies caring for high-quality rehabilita- tion provision to disabled people, at the national and European level. Key words: medical education; physical and rehabilitation medicine; postgraduate training; European Union of Medical Specialties; White Book; European training requirements. Accepted Oct 22, 2019; Epub ahead of print Oct 27, 2019 J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 828–833 Correspondence address: Maria Gabriella Ceravolo, Department of Ex- perimental and Clinical Medicine – Politecnica delle Marche University, Ancona, Italy. Email: [email protected] Incoming President of the UEMS PRM Board 2021–2024. Past Presidents of the UEMS PRM Board 2002–2016. C President of the UEMS PRM Board 2017–2020. A B LAY ABSTRACT The European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) has created a Common Training Framework, which con- sists of a set of knowledge, skills and competencies for postgraduate medical training. As a body linked to the Physical and Rehabilitation (PRM) Section of the UEMS, the European PRM Board is committed to promoting the harmonization of PRM physicians’ qualifications. It accomplishes this mission by determining the theore- tical knowledge necessary for the practice of the PRM specialty and the core competencies, but also by ascer- taining that a standard level of education is achieved and maintained by PRM physicians, through a medically driven system of certification. This paper presents the methodology and outcomes of the European PRM Board examination, while showing how this approach to PRM education should be considered as a reference point at the national and European level. T he European Union of Medical Specialists/Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) is a non-governmental organization representing national associations of medical specialists at the European level, which is committed to promoting the free mo- vement of medical specialists across Europe, while ensuring the highest level of training, as the means to guarantee the quality of medical care and expertise. Ac- cording to UEMS policy, the development of European Standards in education is warranted, so that, no matter where in Europe doctors are trained, they develop the same core competencies. In 1994, the UEMS adopted its Charter on Postgra- duate Training, aiming at providing recommendations at the European level for excellence in postgraduate medical training. Made up of 6 chapters, this Charter set the basis for the European approach in the field of postgraduate training. While 5 chapters were common to all specialties, so-called “Chapter 6” was intended to be completed by each Specialist Section according to the specific requirements for the practice of their discipline. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. www.medicaljournals.se/jrm doi: 10.2340/16501977-2620 Journal Compilation © 2019 Foundation of Rehabilitation Information. ISSN 1650-1977