Building competence in emergency care: a proposed model for training Ghana’s next generation of medical doctors

While Emergency Medicine is increasingly being integrated into postgraduate medical training, its adoption into undergraduate education remains limited across Africa. This educational gap contributes to disparities in the quality of initial stabilisation and acute care delivery, particularly among newly qualified doctors. This paper proposes a model for integrating emergency medicine into undergraduate medical school curricula that is grounded in global standards and tailored to local realities. The model emphasises the development of core competencies in undergraduate emergency medicine. It advocates implementation in the first and final clinical years as a three- to six-week rotation led by emergency medicine consultants and specialists. The proposed core domains include trauma, medical and paediatric emergencies; procedural and ultrasound-guided skills; resource stewardship and disaster preparedness. Implementation of this model has the potential to standardise foundational emergency care knowledge, bridge the preparedness gap among junior clinicians and strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s emergency care response systems.