Football doctor course in Portugal

UEFA's Football Doctor Education Programme (FDEP) – in which crucial football medicine expertise and information is being exchanged across Europe – enters the new season ready for fresh challenges.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) is the latest association to make a contribution, staging its second cascaded course on medical emergencies on the field as part of UEFA's innovative medical education activities. The course took place at the FPF headquarters in Lisbon, and was attended by 20 doctors from Portuguese first and second-division clubs and several expert instructors.

A fruitful course saw important advice disseminated, with participants able to take on board essential information that will doubtless help them in their future work. On-field treatment and areas such as general support of the injured player, stabilisation and immobilisation in certain injury cases, and transport of injured players were some of the key items dealt with. The Portuguese association is now preparing another cascaded module on traumatology, which is scheduled for the end of the year.

"The second course in Portugal again showed a perfect example of how UEFA's Football Doctor Education Programme is being cascaded across Europe," said course leader and UEFA Medical Committee member Dr José Henrique Jones. "This course offered a possibility for the doctors that could not attend the first edition to come along to the second, in order to learn and share their knowledge and expertise in elite football medicine. Portugal is one of the first national associations to cascade a workshop for the second time, and I hope this will inspire others to do the same."

The FDEP, which was launched in 2011, has led to know-how being passed down through the UEFA member associations in a series of cascaded courses. On-field medical emergencies are just one of the topics covered in the programme's activities. Others include roles and responsibilities of the football medic, diagnosis and treatment of injuries, prevention and rehabilitation of injuries, and anti-doping.

Content has been developed and compiled in collaboration with the UEFA Medical Committee and sports medicine experts.

Programme content is being filtered down through the member associations via the hosting of events at a national level, such as the Lisbon event. Consequently, FA medical representatives are being helped to transfer the knowledge shared in senior international football down to the medical staff and club doctors at all levels.

UEFA is lending medical emergency training kit and is supplying educational tools such as technical handbooks, as well as providing trained course delegates to offer invaluable advice and an extensive online platform with learning facilities.