Football doctor programme bears fruit

The Netherlands is the latest country in which crucial football medicine knowledge is being passed among doctors as part of the UEFA Football Doctor Education Programme (FDEP).

FDEP participant Edwin Goedhart – sports medicine manager at the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) and Dutch national team doctor – organised a workshop in Amsterdam attended by nine doctors from clubs in the top two domestic divisions, in accordance with a major principle of the programme which ensures transmission of knowledge in a cascaded manner.

The UEFA Football Doctor Education Programme (FDEP) is a three-part initiative teaching doctors from all 54 of UEFA's member associations the key skills of the modern football medic. It comprises workshops and an online e-learning support platform. An online forum is also in operation, allowing course participants to discuss and resolve key issues between themselves outside of the workshops.

One central aspect of the FDEP, which has been in operation since 2012, has involved participants throughout Europe undergoing tests at the end of UEFA workshops to assess the skills and knowledge obtained. This evaluation is essential, because as well as learning vital skills, one of the unique elements of the FDEP is that all participants are taught how to 'cascade' their own national version of the course for doctors in their own countries.

Only those delegates who demonstrate competence in the specific topic areas of the FDEP, such as emergency treatment of players, injury prevention and treatment and rehabilitation, are authorised to pass these skills and knowledge on to their peers at a cascaded national workshop. All the doctors present in the Netherlands successfully passed Edwin Goedhart's domestic course.

"The Dutch workshop offered a high-quality course focusing on basic life support and trauma scenarios," said Dr Goedhart. "There can be no doubt we have enhanced the knowledge of our elite doctors and further strengthened football medicine in the Netherlands. Specific courses for football doctors have the advantage of focusing on football-specific emergencies, and create the possibility to exchange experiences with other doctors."

Cascaded courses such as the one in the Netherlands follow the course manual and course structure used for UEFA's own workshops, with UEFA supplying various forms of support. UEFA also lays down strict criteria so that all tutors have the medical specialist knowledge required in order to teach other doctors. This is necessary for a national cascaded course to be recognised by UEFA.

Cascaded events are often attended by doctors from the UEFA Medical Committee, who oversee the successful delivery of the course and ensure it meets UEFA's high standards and preserves the integrity of the FDEP. The cascading process means that UEFA has begun to create a network of skilled medical tutors disseminating the expertise gleaned on the course throughout Europe's wider football community. It also results in significant progress being made to improve the medical support available to players.