A global view of education and training in critical care medicine

The Educational Committee of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine (WFSICCM) performed a survey in various countries and reviewed data from the Cobatrice study and from surveys of the Pan-American and Iberic Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine to characterize current structures and processes in education in intensive care medicine to determine the potential for convergence to a common competency-based training program, and to a common competency certification in most countries around the world, guided by the local scientific societies and the WFSICCM. Training in critical care medicine sponsored by the WFSICCM should provide a competency approach that permits diversity of training methods while creating a common outcome: doctors with a universal set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for a specialist in intensive care medicine.