ASTEM - Apply - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

How to apply

All applicants for the ASTEM programme at RCSI must:

Submit evidence to prove eligibility and commencement of registration on the trainee division of the Irish Medical Council at the time of application.
Hold the Membership of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (MRCEM/Intermediate FRCEM) diploma by the application closing date.
Be able to communicate clearly with patients and colleagues – details of which are outlined in the HSE's English language requirements.
Familiarise themselves with the allocation of places 2020 document and the ASTEM Marking Scheme.

Applications for EM Specialist Training (ST4-ST7) commencing in July 2020 are now closed. Applications for 2021 will open in October 2020.

Entrants to ASTEM are recruited by one of two routes:

Assessment of Suitability for Advanced Training (ASAT) for CSTEM year three trainees; and
Competitive multi-station interview for CSTEM second chance and non-CSTEM applicants.

The process is as follows:

Recruitment panel – the recruitment panel is organised by the Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training (ICEMT) and comprises a nominee of the President of RCSI (as an independent chairperson), the Dean and Vice Deans and a number of consultant trainers (representatives from each training emergency department).
Shortlisting – shortlisting is carried out by the recruitment panel according to defined criteria. CSTEM year three applicants – who have met all CSTEM milestones – are automatically shortlisted for ASTEM.
Interview/assessment – interviews are carried out by the recruitment panel. Each interview follows the same format and questions are standardised. Assessment incorporates outcomes of your CSTEM appraisals, trainer references, feedback and recommendations, academic activity during CSTEM and performance in a multi-station assessment process modelled on the current ASTEM selection process.
Outcome – marks from the stages outlined above are combined; references and trainer feedback are considered by the recruitment panel after which appointable candidates are identified and ranked in order of score.

For further details on ASTEM, please contact Orla Mockler, +353 1 402 2240.