Ireland · Emergency Medicine HST Ireland (ASTEM side entry) · 2027 intake criteria
Emergency Medicine HST in Ireland: points calculator and scoring guide
Pick the option that fits your evidence at each step to see your score out of 56, and what you can still add before the deadline.
Applications close Thu 12 Nov 2026 (provisional)
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Emergency Medicine HST (IE) points calculator
Where these numbers come from
- 6 domains, worded as in the official guide
- 3 official sources, each dated
Method and sources
Your score adds up the option you pick in each domain, using the published rules shown on each step. "Could still add" uses only steps the guide allows before the deadline. No competition figures are shown for Irish HST. Last checked 30 October 2026.
- ASTEM Score Guide: Selection Process for Side Entry, July 2027 (Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training, RCSI). Cover: 'July 2027' / 'OCTOBER 2026'. Document ASTEMGUI2, revision 04 (Oct 26, 'Dates updated'). Downloaded and text-extracted 30 Oct 2026; tables checked against page renders.
- RCSI Advanced Specialist Training (ASTEM): Apply. 'Applications for ASTEM 2027 are now open.' Checked 30 Oct 2026
- ASTEM Application Form 2027 (Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine, commencing July 2027). Commencing July 2027; 'Closing Date: Thursday 12 November 2026'. Dates marked 'All currently provisional'.
ASTEM is the four-year higher specialist training in Emergency Medicine in Ireland, run by the Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training at RCSI. CSTEM year 3 trainees move up through ASAT; everyone else, including doctors who trained in the UK, South Africa or Australasia, applies for side entry. This page follows the ASTEM Score Guide for side entry in July 2027, dated October 2026. Shortlisting is scored from the structured application form in six sections: clinical experience (15), relevant courses (5), qualifications (10), publications (10), presentations (8) and audit (8). No total is printed; the sections add up to 56. Shortlisting only gets you to interview: “shortlist scores are not carried over or combined with interview score”. The application form gives a provisional closing date of 5pm on Thursday 12 November 2026, with shortlisting in January or February and interviews in March 2027, all “currently provisional”.
The calculator scores all six sections on the 2027 tables. Posts of three to six months score half marks, which the calculator doesn’t model, so count whole six-month blocks. We’ll show your result and email you a copy.
Go to the Emergency Medicine HST (IE) calculator at the top of this page
Where Teach the Teacher counts for Emergency Medicine HST
It doesn’t, at shortlisting. The courses section is explicit: “Courses must be of direct relevance to EM and face to face to be considered.” The list of courses that “WILL NOT be considered” includes “Webinars, courses without direct participation or without assessment or online courses without integrated assessment process” and “Any other courses not relevant to clinical practice in Emergency Medicine”. Teach the Teacher is taught online and isn’t a clinical EM course, so it scores nothing here, and there’s no teaching category anywhere else in the shortlisting score. Two things in the guide do reward teaching. Instructing on ATLS, APLS or ACLS counts as a course: “evidence of having instructed on one of those courses will be considered equivalent for accumulation of marks.” And the interview, out of 160 across eight stations, lists “Education in Emergency Medicine” among its domains. The guide doesn’t award marks for courses there either, but it’s where the teaching you’ve done, and how you learned to teach, gets discussed.
Rules in the ASTEM Score Guide that change a score
Clinical experience counts only in posts “recognised for training by ICEMT” and only “within the last 5 years”. Emergency Medicine earns 1.5 per six months up to 6, so anything beyond two years adds nothing, though registrar-level time adds a bonus of 0.5 per six months, up to 1. ATLS, APLS and ACLS are entry requirements, so attending them scores nothing. A one-day course scores 0.5, and “No marks will be awarded without sufficient course detail, evidence or links for information.” Qualifications count only if completed “in the four years prior to commencement of ASTEM”. Presentations score 2 for an international oral, 1 for a national oral and 0.5 for a poster. They must be “of direct relevance to Emergency Medicine”, “The same topic presented twice (or more) will only be counted once”, and orals count “only … where the applicant has presented personally”. Each audit needs its title, standard, intervention and two cycles, plus “written confirmation from a Consultant that you had a substantial role”. The guide says 2 per completed audit but also “5 marks for each audit listed”; we’ve used 2. Research items can be added after the closing date, but “The cut-off date for the award of marks in this section will be the date of shortlisting.”
Worked example: a side-entry applicant on 20.5
Picture a doctor applying from outside CSTEM with 24 months of Emergency Medicine in the UK (12 at registrar level), 6 months of anaesthesia, 6 months of acute paediatrics and 6 months of acute medicine, all in the last five years. They’ve done one two-day and one one-day face-to-face EM course, hold a PG Cert, are second author on an EM paper, gave one national oral and one poster, and have one completed two-cycle audit and one single-cycle audit. On the 2027 tables they score:
- Clinical experience: EM 6, registrar bonus 1, anaesthesia 1.5, acute paediatrics 1.5, acute medicine 1.5, so 11.5.
- Relevant courses: 1 plus 0.5, so 1.5.
- Qualifications: Postgraduate Certificate, 1.
- Publications: second author on an original EM paper, 2.
- Presentations: national oral 1, poster 0.5, so 1.5.
- Audit: completed audit 2, single-cycle audit 1, so 3.
That’s 20.5 of the 56 the sections add up to. Teach the Teacher wouldn’t change it, because online, non-EM courses don’t score. What would: a further face-to-face EM course (up to the 5-mark cap), instructing on a life support course, or a second completed audit cycle.
For the six ASTEM tables and the 2027 dates on one printable page, add your email and we’ll send you the PDF.
Emergency Medicine HST (IE) ASTEM shortlisting scoring for side-entry candidates (structured application form), then a multi-station interview points at a glance
Your score is the total of the domain scores, out of a maximum of 56.
No total is printed. 56 is the sum of the six section maxima: clinical experience 15, relevant courses 5, qualifications 10, publications 10, presentations 8 and audit 8. Shortlisting decides who is interviewed and is not carried forward: 'Shortlisted candidates undergo a multi-station interview. (Please note, shortlist scores are not carried over or combined with interview score).' The interview is out of 160: 'There are eight mini-interview stations, each covering a different area relevant to Emergency Medicine training and practice.' 'Each of the eight stations scores a maximum of 20 marks.' Domains listed '(subject to change)' include 'Education in Emergency Medicine' and 'Academic Emergency Medicine'. 'After interview for this process, candidates who have successfully completed CSTEM within two years of the intake date will be ranked ahead of those who have not completed formal CSTEM.' The interview section is headed 'Performance during the ASAT interview process (max 160 marks)'.
| Domain | What scores (official wording) | Max |
|---|---|---|
| a. Clinical experience (max 15) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 15 points for the domain. Each line has its own maximum; together they reach 15. Count whole six-month blocks: 'half marks for 3 to 6 months experience in a post and no marks will be awarded if the post is less than 3 months duration', which the calculator doesn't model. 'Only clinical experience within the last 5 years will be counted.' | 15 |
| b. Relevant training courses (max 5) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 5 points for the domain. Up to 5 in total, for courses attended from 1 July 2021. ATLS, APLS, ACLS and similar (e.g. PALS) don't count as attendance, but instructing on them does. | 5 |
| c. Qualifications (max 10) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 10 points for the domain. Up to 10, for qualifications completed in the four years before ASTEM starts. MRCEM doesn't score here (it's an entry requirement). | 10 |
| d. Publications (max 10) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 10 points for the domain. Up to 10. Marks fall with author position. 'If the publication is not directly relevant, half marks may be awarded.' Best Bets and case reports score nothing beyond 1st and 2nd author respectively. | 10 |
| e. Presentations at scientific meetings (max 8) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 8 points for the domain. Up to 8. Each topic counts once, at its highest level. The application form's Appendix 1 lists EM meetings as 'merely indicative', and 'The shortlisting committee will adjudicate definitively on the relevance of a presentation at a meeting not listed below.' | 8 |
| e. Audit (max 8) |
Each item you can evidence adds its points, up to 8 points for the domain. Up to 8. The same section also says '5 marks for each audit listed', which conflicts with 2 per completed audit; see open questions. | 8 |
| Total | Not published as a single figure: this is the sum of the domain maxima. | 56 |
Dates for this round
- Applications open (invited in October; open on 30 Oct 2026) source
- Closing date (provisional): application, courses and non-academic documents expected source
- Shortlisting (January/February 2027): last point for research and academic items expected source 1 source 2
- Interviews (March 2027, to be confirmed) expected source
What you can still add before 12 November 2026
What each of these adds is the difference between the option you would reach and the one you already hold, so it can be nothing if you hold that option already. The calculator works out the gain from your own answers.
- b. Relevant training courses (max 5). Attend a face-to-face course of direct relevance to EM (for example from the guide's list: MIMMS, ultrasound, European Trauma Course, ATACC, FUSIC Heart, The Procedures Course), or instruct on ATLS, APLS or ACLS, and record the duration and programme on the application. The Erudical Teach the Teacher course doesn't count here. Gets you to: Face-to-face course of direct relevance to EM, longer than one day (or instructing on ATLS, APLS or ACLS). Courses go on the application form, which closes (provisionally) at 5pm on Thursday 12 November 2026; only 'Research and Academic' items can be added after the closing date.
Evidence traps
- Online courses, webinars and exam prep courses score nothing. A course has to be face to face and of direct relevance to EM.
Courses must be of direct relevance to EM and face to face to be considered. ... Courses that WILL NOT be considered include: ... Exam preparation courses ... Webinars, courses without direct participation or without assessment or online courses without integrated assessment process
source - Your shortlisting score gets you to interview and then disappears. The interview (160) is scored from scratch.
Shortlisted candidates undergo a multi-station interview. (Please note, shortlist scores are not carried over or combined with interview score).
source - ATLS, APLS and ACLS are entry requirements, so attending them scores nothing. Instructing on them does count as a course.
This does not include the mandatory life support courses – ATLS, APLS, ACLS. In addition, no marks will be awarded for similarly themed courses e.g. PALS etc. However, evidence of having instructed on one of those courses will be considered equivalent for accumulation of marks.
source - The same talk at two meetings counts once, and only if you presented it yourself.
The same topic presented twice (or more) will only be counted once. Where applicable, the higher mark (e.g. international conference) will be awarded. ... Oral and moderated poster presentations will only be counted where the applicant has presented personally.
source - Clinical posts count only if ICEMT recognises them for training and they fall within the last five years; posts under three months score nothing.
Posts must be recognised for training by ICEMT ... Only clinical experience within the last 5 years will be counted. Full marks are awarded per 6 month post, half marks for 3 to 6 months experience in a post and no marks will be awarded if the post is less than 3 months duration.
source
Sources
- ASTEM Score Guide: Selection Process for Side Entry, July 2027 (Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training, RCSI), Cover: 'July 2027' / 'OCTOBER 2026'. Document ASTEMGUI2, revision 04 (Oct 26, 'Dates updated'). Downloaded and text-extracted 30 Oct 2026; tables checked against page renders.
- RCSI Advanced Specialist Training (ASTEM): Apply, 'Applications for ASTEM 2027 are now open.' Checked 30 Oct 2026
- ASTEM Application Form 2027 (Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine, commencing July 2027), Commencing July 2027; 'Closing Date: Thursday 12 November 2026'. Dates marked 'All currently provisional'.
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Emergency Medicine HST Ireland questions, answered
Does a teaching course count for ASTEM shortlisting?
No. Courses must be “of direct relevance to EM and face to face”, and “online courses without integrated assessment process” are excluded. There’s no teaching category at shortlisting. Teaching comes up at interview, where “Education in Emergency Medicine” is one of the domains.
How many marks are presentations worth for EM HST in Ireland?
An international oral scores 2, a national oral 1 and a poster 0.5, up to 8. National meetings “include IEMTA meetings and CSTEM presentation days”, and the application form lists other EM meetings as “merely indicative”.
When do ASTEM applications close?
The 2027 application form gives a provisional closing date of 5pm on Thursday 12 November 2026, posted or delivered by hand. Thesis, publications and presentations awarded later can be added until the shortlisting meeting.
Does the ASTEM shortlisting score count at interview?
No. “Shortlist scores are not carried over or combined with interview score.” The interview has eight mini-stations at 20 marks each, and candidates who completed CSTEM within two years of the intake date are ranked ahead of those who didn’t.

