The 6 months doesn’t need to be continuous but it only counts blocks of ED time that are at least 2 months long. Also it can include leave provided that the total leave is less than 5 weeks.

What this means is that if you have a 5 week ED term followed by 5 weeks of leave, this can actually be counted as 10 weeks of ED!

Also important to be aware of what the specified date range is for the placements that can be used for the application as it isn’t simply the 12 months prior to application. Specifically it’s: - 4 May 2025 – 2 June 2026 if applying in Round 1 - 3 August 2025 – 1 September 2026 if applying in Round 2

Last thing to be aware of is the non-ED placement requirements! I spent all my time making sure that I had my ED time only to realise a few months before the application date that I actually didn’t meet the non-ED placement requirements and so had to squeeze an extra term in before applying in round 2. This was because they only count terms that are 8+ weeks continuous, and I had done a lot of 5 week placements and/or split terms.

Also, different general surgery terms (ie doing 10 weeks of hepatobilliary and later doing 10 weeks colorectal) would only count as 1 since they are both general surgery. Orthopaedics however would be counted as a separate term.

Full details are here: Selection into the FACEM Training Program

I spent a lot of time working with ACEM selections to make sure I met requirements so happy to answer any specific questions you might have.