ECOSEP is a pan European Community organisation; full members are Sport and Exercise physicians; students and teachers of subjects relevant to Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) are welcome as associates.
The current legislation across Europe does not in fact impose similar standards of training and skill levels in SEM across the member countries. At a time when National Identity is so often expressed through sporting achievement it is imperative that those looking after our athletes have the highest possible skills. This has to be matched with the now established right of physicians to practice in any Member State.
There is no other European Organisation that specifically represents Physicians in this Speciality.
ECOSEP proposes to establish what level of training in SEM takes place in the Member States; to identify the best standards and to facilitate Member States in improving skill levels in SEM.
There is a need to make the best use of scarce research resources within the Community through monitoring what is being done to avoid duplication and to encourage combined research initiatives
ECOSEP will approach a senior member of the SEM community in each State and ask them to identify the training parameters in that State. ECOSEP is establishing a working party to define the relevant training parameters, such as seniority at commencement, hours of tuition, class sizes, practical experience and exit examinations.
The second phase will be to use the skills of those States with more advance programs to help those who need to catch up. We would emphasise that this is not designed to exclude anyone but simply to enable standards to rise throughout the Community.
We already have started some collaborative work within the Community which could be used as a template for other groups.