ABEM ACCM study guide
ABEM ACCM · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
ABEM ACCM is treated on this page as a continuing-certification assessment associated with the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), the certifying body whose materials are linked from abem.org. ABEM's public site organizes continuing certification ("Stay Certified") around modules, LLSA reading, Improvement in Medical Practice, Professionalism and Professional Standing, and an annual fee, and it names module brands including MyEMCert for Emergency Medicine, MyToxCert, MyEMSCert, and MySonoCert. The ABEM ACCM study guide has 10 sections and about 2,902 words.
01Cardiovascular Disorders
Time-critical cardiovascular diagnoses must be stabilized before diagnostic certainty. For chest pain, obtain an ECG within 10 minutes, assess hemodynamics, and risk-stratify ACS.
270 words, about 1 min02Thoracic and Respiratory Disorders
Respiratory emergencies require simultaneous airway, oxygenation, ventilation, and perfusion assessment. Understand asthma and COPD exacerbations, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, hemoptysis, ARDS, and acute respiratory failure.
277 words, about 1 min03Abdominal and Gastrointestinal Disorders
Approach abdominal pain by anatomy, acuity, and physiologic stability. Core diagnoses include appendicitis, cholecystitis, cholangitis, pancreatitis, perforated viscus, bowel obstruction, mesenteric ischemia, diverticulitis, GI bleeding, hernia, and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
275 words, about 1 min04Nervous System Disorders
Neurologic emergencies demand a structured assessment of airway, ventilation, glucose, pupillary reactivity, focal deficits, and level of consciousness. Core topics include ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, seizures and status epilepticus, coma, meningitis/encephalitis, headache, elevated intracranial pressure, and neuromuscular weakness.
257 words, about 1 min05Traumatic Disorders
Trauma care follows a primary survey with catastrophic hemorrhage and airway control first, then a secondary survey. Understand hemorrhagic shock, tension pneumothorax, hemothorax, cardiac tamponade, traumatic brain injury, abdominal solid-organ and hollow-viscus injury, pelvic and long-bone fractures, and compartment syndrome.
264 words, about 1 min06Toxicologic Disorders
Toxicology questions reward pattern recognition and physiologic reasoning. Learn toxidromes: opioid, sympathomimetic, anticholinergic, cholinergic, sedative-hypnotic, and serotonin syndrome.
244 words, about 1 min07Environmental Disorders
Environmental emergencies require recognition of abnormal physiology caused by heat, cold, altitude, pressure, immersion, electricity, and envenomation. Core topics include heat exhaustion versus heat stroke, hypothermia, frostbite, drowning, decompression illness, high-altitude illness, electrical and lightning injury, and snake or marine envenomation.
270 words, about 1 min08Musculoskeletal and Soft-Tissue Disorders
Orthopedic and soft-tissue emergencies require recognition of threats to limb, joint, and life. Core diagnoses include fractures, dislocations, open fractures, compartment syndrome, necrotizing soft-tissue infection, septic arthritis, flexor tenosynovitis, and cauda equina syndrome.
258 words, about 1 min09Systemic Infectious and Immune Disorders
Systemic infection and immune emergencies require early recognition and source control. Core topics include sepsis and septic shock, meningitis, pneumonia, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, neutropenic fever, anaphylaxis, angioedema, and transplant-related infection.
241 words, about 1 min10Psychobehavioral Disorders
Psychobehavioral emergencies require safety, medical screening, and respectful de-escalation. Core topics include agitation, psychosis, depression and suicide risk, anxiety and panic, substance intoxication and withdrawal, delirium, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, serotonin syndrome, and capacity assessment.
546 words, about 3 min