08 • Careers


An opportunity to combine two passions in one career SPORTING CHANCE T


HIS month the Gold Coast of Australia is hosting more than 6,600 athletes and team officials from 71 nations at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. All four UK nations have sent not only


athletic teams but “teams behind the teams” – these including squads of physiotherapists and highly trained sport and exercise medicine doctors. Attending to elite athletes at major sporting


events is a specialised role requiring not only core emergency skills and training in musculoskeletal medicine but also experience as a generalist. This might involve, for example, treating chronic asthma in an athlete without falling foul of complex doping rules and procedures.


This is peak specialism – but an interest and


expertise in sports medicine can be just as essential on the sidelines of a school rugby pitch. And more often than not it is a GP providing that kind of medical cover. There are numerous avenues for GPs


wishing to pursue an interest in sport and excercise medicine (SEM). It could involve an all-encompassing career change with the goal of becoming a consultant specialist in SEM, or it could be a special interest undertaken alongside working in general practice.


SEM as a GMC specialty


Sport and exercise medicine became a recognised specialty by the General Medical Council in 2005. SEM trainees must complete a four-year training programme administered by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board. A GP can enter SEM training at ST3 level and by ST5 must have completed the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) UK Membership Exam. Later upon completion of specialist training a certificate of completion of training (CCT) is awarded and an SEM consultant can join the GMC specialist register for SEM and apply to become a Fellow of the FSEM UK. The medical care of injury and illness in sport is just one element of SEM. It also has much broader application in improving the health of the general public through exercise advice and prescription (exercise medicine) and general musculoskeletal medicine. SEM doctors are involved in promoting


physical activity and exercise medicine both to reduce and treat many non-communicable diseases. The role might include diagnosing musculoskeletal injuries or illness in patients for whom exercise would be beneficial and overseeing rehabilitation programmes, or it might involve a wider public health role in encouraging physical activity in the general population.


SEM specialists can be employed as team


doctors for a sports club or organisation, or as a doctor for a specific sporting event or venue. In this role they support sportsmen and women in the medical care of injury and illness as part of a multidisciplinary team, maximising performance and reducing injury time and co-morbidity associated with sporting participation. This can involve treating a variety of conditions such as soft-tissue injuries of muscles and ligaments, or fractures. It would be hard to describe a typical day for an SEM doctor. Work can vary from outpatient clinics reviewing sports injuries and NHS clinics to pitch-side immediate care at the highest level of elite sport. Some SEM doctors run specialist clinics performing image-guided interventional procedures; others may be concerned with assessment and rehabilitation of outpatients. SEM doctors also work in other areas, for example emergency medicine, and may be employed by universities, involved in research and education.


SEM as a special interest


GPs with a special interest in SEM can gain professional recognition in the field by sitting the FSEM UK membership exam. This skills and knowledge-based qualification


PHOTOGRAPH: PA


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16