Our Core Training

After applying to join the UK-Med Register, you’ll be invited onto the Core Training Pathway. All of our courses have now been developed so that you can undertake them online, and we’re working in partnership with a variety of specialist training providers to ensure that our courses are relevant, up-to-date and fit for purpose. There are self-directed e-learning modules, live online workshops, virtual classrooms, and several simulation exercises. 

Initially, everyone will undertake the BSAFE security awareness training from the UN Department of Safety and Security. You’ll also complete our own UK-Med Induction and a course introducing you to the WHO Emergency Medical Team methodology. 

After those courses, your training journey will be tailored to your experience, your needs, and the needs of the UK-Med Register.

If you have substantial previous experience in humanitarian emergencies, you will be asked to complete the Essential Response Training. If you do not yet have humanitarian experience, or your experience is limited, then you’ll undertake two courses designed to give you a fuller understanding of your roles and responsibilities. These are the Selection Training, and the Deployment Course.

All UK-Med Register members must also undertake the courses on our Safeguarding Pathway. These three courses are Safeguarding Essentials, Introduction to UK-Med Safeguarding, and the Safeguarding Reflection Session.

Specialist and Elective Training

Beyond the Core Training, we’ll assess you and decide which courses will be most relevant to you and most useful to our response capabilities. We need to ensure that you’ve built foundational skills and are well-prepared to help us to deliver a high-quality and effective response to health emergencies. 

All members will be invited to undertake the Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT), and we strongly encourage you to take us up on this offer. Based on your location and experience, some will be invited to a HEAT Simulation Exercise (simex). Also offered to all clinical members is the Nutrition in Emergencies Course. 

To ensure that we are able to function effectively in the field, we need experienced leaders, and you may be invited onto our Team Leader or Medical Coordinator Courses. 

Depending on your experience and the needs of the Register, you may be invited to undertake further specialist training in areas such as nutrition, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and burn care, where delivery may be significantly different in a humanitarian context.

Our training portfolio is under continual review so that we can adapt to the changing demands of humanitarian responses around the world.