New initiative to improve undergraduate teaching in acute care

The recently launched Acute Care Undergraduate Teaching (ACUTE) project aims to develop recommendations for a national curriculum for healthcare students to promote teaching in the safe care of acutely ill patients, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It has the formal support of the UK Resuscitation Council and the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Intensive Care Medicine and has an advisory group of many stakeholder organisations including the deans of medical schools, and the National Patient Safety Agency. Although the proposal is primarily directed at medical undergraduates, many components of the core curriculum are also relevant to the training of nurses, dentists, and physiotherapists.

Gavin Perkins, project coordinator and specialist registrar in critical care medicine, explains why this initiative is needed: “The care of the acutely ill patient in hospital is …