EBEEM study guide
EBEEM · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The European Board Examination in Emergency Medicine (EBEEM) is an examination administered through the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM), which lists EBEEM as its own section on its website alongside pages for the exam's structure, regulations, fees and preparation. The exam is organised in two parts: Part A and Part B, each with a dedicated page in the EBEEM section. It is aimed at emergency medicine physicians who want an assessment benchmarked to the European Curriculum of Emergency Medicine, the curriculum published in EUSEM's education pages. Candidates should begin by reading the official EBEEM pages for eligibility requirements and required documents, the regulations and terms and conditions, and the fees, since those are the authoritative statements on who may sit the exam and on what terms. Preparation should be built around the European Curriculum of Emergency Medicine, which defines the clinical domains the exam draws on, supplemented by EUSEM's education offering, such as its courses and traineeships, webinars, the European Trauma Course and the EUSEM Ultrasound course. EUSEM also publishes EBEEM preparation material and information on becoming an examiner. Topics on this exam: Emergency Medicine (European Curriculum of Emergency Medicine). The EBEEM study guide has 1 section and about 510 words.
01Emergency Medicine - European Curriculum of Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine carries most of EBEEM's discriminating weight: the written component uses single-best-answer items and the practical component tests the same competencies face to face. Both ask you to make safe decisions for undifferentiated patients, with incomplete information and no time. This section is about converting the European curriculum's competency statements into the answer the item writer intended, rather than reciting disease lists. Each question maps to one competency block: initial assessment and resuscitation, including recognition of the deteriorating patient and escalation; complaint- and organ-based presentations: chest pain, dyspnoea, abdominal pain, altered consciousness, fever, trauma; core and advanced procedures, with indications, contraindications and complications; special populations - children, older people, pregnancy, mental health, immunosuppression, palliative needs; prehospital care, major incidents and disaster medicine; non-technical competencies: communication, handover, leadership, patient safety, governance and education.
510 words, about 3 minMore study resources for EBEEM
- Practice questionsA 3-year-old child is brought to the emergency department with a barking cough, hoarse voice and inspiratory stridor that began overnight.
- FlashcardsPrimary survey sequence. Catastrophic haemorrhage control, Airway with cervical spine protection, Breathing, Circulation, Disability (GCS, pupils, glucose), Exposure with temperature control, then reassess after every intervention.
- Cheat sheetPrimary survey sequence: catastrophic haemorrhage control, Airway with cervical spine protection, Breathing, Circulation, Disability (GCS/pupils/glucose), Exposure with temperature control; reassess after every intervention.
- Key termsTriage. A brief structured assessment that ranks patients by urgency so that limited staff and resources treat the sickest first, usually recorded as a colour or numeric acuity category on arrival.
- Study planMap the EBEEM syllabus into a personal checklist covering resuscitation, cardiovascular, respiratory, and trauma presentations, and rate each area as strong, partial, or weak.
- Common mistakesCandidates anchor on the most familiar respiratory diagnosis and skip the deliberate differential that the European curriculum expects in the primary survey.
- Exam-day guideBring the original, valid photo ID (typically a passport or national ID card) in the name used on your application.