About IMPACT
The history of IMPACT
After formal discussions at the Federation of Medical Royal Colleges and the Royal College of Anaesthetists in early 2004, it was recognised that a new course was needed to educate SHO physicians in the essentials of recognition and treatment of the critically ill medical patient. This course was to be aimed at medical SHO’s in their first 2 years of specialist training. Dr Magnus Garrioch had been running such a course in Glasgow since 2001 and Dr Gary Smith was developing similar plans in London/Portsmouth. Drs Garrioch and Smith had had informal discussions about working together to develop an initiative at an intercollegiate level in 2003.
The Glasgow course had been run using the name IMPACT (Ill Medical Patients’: Acute Care and Treatment) and in the first instance discussions were held using this name. A new course would build on expertise gleaned from the Glasgow IMPACT and similar courses that had been arranged on an ad hoc basis throughout the UK, such as Care of the Critically Ill Medical Patient courses (CCrIMP), run by Dr Mark Carpenter in Middlesbrough and Dr Colin Melville in Hull. These activities were brought together to formalise a new course on a National basis.
The Federation formed an Intercollegiate Steering Committee under the co-chairmanship of Dr Magnus Garrioch (RCPSG) and Dr Gary Smith (RCPL). This group met for the first time on 10th April 2003.
The Steering Committee’s first function was to expand its number into a Working Party to develop teaching materials for the course. This currently stands as a group of individuals throughout the UK (see contributors). Materials for teaching the acute care of critically ill patients were developed for SHO physicians and the new course was born.
The first Intercollegiate IMPACT Course was held at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in November 2004.
Where we are now
IMPACT continues to develop rapidly. There are now 30 Course Centres across the UK and during 2010, there were 56 courses and 12 Instructor Days held.
There is an ongoing need for the recruitment of suitable faculty and study days are planned for throughout the year. If you wish to teach IMPACT please contact the IMPACT National Co-ordinator, Elaine Millar, at admin@impactmedical.org.
Potential course participants can find out where a course is being run by contacting Elaine. As Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) reaches more of a consensus about the way in which training “post foundation” will run for physicians and related disciplines, it will be easier to determine the optimum time for trainees to attend IMPACT courses. For now it will be at CT1/2 level and IMPACT will attract a wide range of doctors including those who may go on specialist training programmes in various medical specialties, accident and emergency medicine, anaesthetics and psychiatry.
