Teaching immediate cardiac care to general practitioners: a faculty-based approach

This paper describes the development, piloting and delivery of an immediate care cardiac course (ICCC) to Irish general practitioners. The course utilizes the continuing medical education network of the Irish College of General Practitioners. This has made the course locally accessible even for remote practitioners and has facilitated rapid dissemination. In its first year, 167 GPs (8% of the total number of Irish GPs) have completed the course. Participant feedback has been positive, especially regarding the small group- and skills-based components. The introduction of more formal assessment procedures is now being undertaken. We believe this model to be a possible template for the introduction of other skills courses both in Ireland and abroad.