Why am I doing all these on-call shifts if they might not ‘count’ as GIM training?

Due to the highly varied nature of GIM training across multiple specialties and local health systems, the national curriculum cannot be particularly specific about what ‘counts’ as GIM. There are more specific requirements such as the 1000 patients / 186 clinics one, but the time component remains. The GIM curriculum requires you to do 3 years (2+1 in some specialties where one year cross-counts as GIM) of general medical training, which should usually be based around unselected acute medical admissions with ongoing experience of caring for patients after the acute admissions period (typically on your specialty ward).

Your training may include alternative models of delivering acute care, but at least 1 year must be unqualified acute, unselected medical admissions. Hospitals that have lost their emergency departments and are now taking selected admissions (that have already been seen by other physicians) clearly don’t provide this. The description of a unit as not ‘providing GIM’ does not mean that no GIM experience can be accrued here, but is set in order to give specialty training program directors clarity about which years will unequivocally ‘count’ as GIM, particularly for trainees who may only do 2 GIM years outside their specialty.

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