Royal College of Emergency Medicine

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is an independent professional association of emergency physicians in the United Kingdom which sets standards of training and administers examinations for emergency medicine in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The patron is HRH The Princess Royal.HistoryThe College in its current form was incorporated by royal charter in 2008. However the history of its preceding organisations, the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine (FAEM) and the British Association for Emergency Medicine (BAEM), date back to 1993 and 1967 respectively.Traditionally in British hospital practice, "casualty departments" were staffed and led mainly by non-consultant doctors with surgical backgrounds. The first doctor to be designated as a "casualty consultant" in the UK was Maurice Ellis, who was appointed at Leeds General Infirmary in 1952. Another 15 years passed before a distinct professional body came into being; Ellis became the head of the Casualty Surgeons Association (CSA) which first met on 12 October 1967 at BMA House (a year before the equivalent American College of Emergency Physicians in the United States). The specialty was developed over the years, with the first UK specialty exam in emergency medicine held in 1983 under the auspices of the CSA. The CSA adopted the British Accident & Emergency Medicine Journal and Archives of Emergency Medicine as its journals in 1985. The CSA changed its name to the BAEM in 1990. The BAEM helped found the International Federation for Emergency Medicine in 1991 along with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP), and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).