HERMES Adult Respiratory Medicine

It is an examination within the European Respiratory Society's HERMES programme of examinations and assessments. The Society states that these activities "help to set a common, high standard of knowledge amongst respiratory specialists and trainees within Europe" and that they cater to all professional levels, covering both adult and paediatric respiratory medicine.

Because the Society describes HERMES activities as catering to all professional levels, the examination is relevant both to trainees working towards specialist recognition in adult respiratory medicine and to established specialists who want independent confirmation that their knowledge meets a European benchmark. Confirm eligibility criteria with the Society before applying.

The Society organises its respiratory expertise into eight areas, which also structure its continuing professional development framework: airway diseases, interstitial lung disease, paediatric respiratory diseases, pulmonary vascular diseases, respiratory critical care, respiratory infections, thoracic oncology, and sleep and breathing disorders. Prepare across all eight rather than only your subspecialty.

We cannot state this reliably. The Society's HERMES examinations page returned an error when last checked, so the item count, time limit, passing score and fee are not confirmed here. Rather than repeat figures that may be out of date, check the current HERMES pages on the Society's website before you plan your exam-day timing.

Expect specialist-level difficulty: questions test applied reasoning across the whole specialty, not recall of isolated facts. Start with your weakest of the eight areas, usually paediatric respiratory medicine for adult physicians, then rotate through the remainder. Interleave topics and use case-based questions so you practise switching between diagnostic frameworks.

Three recurrences stand out: neglecting paediatric respiratory disease because it feels irrelevant to adult practice; learning guideline recommendations without the evidence and caveats behind them; and over-relying on passive reading. Active recall, spaced repetition and working through clinical scenarios under time pressure expose gaps far earlier than rereading summaries does.

We cannot confirm this. The Society's HERMES examinations page was unavailable when checked, so retake rules and any validity period are unverified here. These administrative conditions change periodically, so verify them directly with the Society before applying rather than relying on second-hand accounts.

Build around current European guidelines, statements and technical standards for each of the eight disease areas, available through the Society's publications and its Respiratory Channel. Supplement them with case-based question practice and recent review articles. Because recommendations are revised, always check the publication date and any update notice before committing a detail to memory.