European Board Examination in Psychiatry
The EPA, the UEMS-Psychiatry Section and the EFPT are happy to announce that the first sitting of the European Board Examination will take place on 28 February 2025!
General information
The EPA, the European Union of Medical Specialists – Psychiatry Section (UEMS-PS), and the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) have joined forces to develop the European Board Examination in Psychiatry (EBEP), a crucial benchmarking step to harmonise psychiatric training and professional standards in Europe.
The purpose of the EBEP is to influence the learning outcomes of future psychiatric specialists, and to harmonize professional standards across Europe.
A mark of excellence, the EBEP is designed as a supplemental examination for European psychiatrists, with a threefold goal to:
- Establish a strong base of fundamental training prerequisites in psychiatry
- Facilitate the mobility of healthcare professionals within Europe
- Ensure high-quality mental healthcare
Find more information on the development of the exam in the paper “Benchmarking Psychiatry in Europe and beyond: The European Board Exam of Psychiatry” published in European Psychiatry in April 2024.
Examination structure and format
The European Board Examination in Psychiatry is a knowledge-based exam, in written format. Candidates will be asked questions in the form of :
- Clinical vignettes with multiple choice
- Memory based questions with multiple choice
- Short answer questions
The examination is held fully online, through a dedicated, secure platform.
The examination is conducted in the English language.
The EBEP is a voluntary, supplemental examination that can be taken by candidates who hold a Primary Medical Qualification and have experience of Postgraduate Training in Psychiatry. Candidates will be required to have completed a minimum of four years of psychiatry training. In cases where the training duration is shorter than four years, the candidate must demonstrate continuous professional practice as a psychiatrist for four years, including the training period.
Successful candidates will be awarded the title of Fellow of the European Board of Psychiatry.
Applications will open in autumn 2024. More information will be published in the coming months regarding key deadlines, eligibility criteria, application process and fees.
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Syllabus list of topics, European Training Requirements (ETR)
All psychiatry topics to be covered in the examination are described in the list available below, and divided into five overarching themes :
- Basic sciences as applied to psychiatry
- Clinical topics
- Non-clinical topics
- Special topics
- Organisational models of care
Candidates will be expected to have extensive knowledge of these topics, consistent with the needs of independent practice as a psychiatrist in Europe.
The topic list maps onto the knowledge elements described in the UEMS European Training Requirements for Psychiatry (ETR). The ETR consists of the learning outcomes that a specialist psychiatrist should demonstrate organised around the CanMEDS framework.
Organising Committees
The Examination Programme Board is the body mandated by the EPA, the UEMS-PS and the EFPT to be responsible for overseeing the examination development, along with the following committees responsible for all operational aspects : the Examination Committee, the Quality Assurance Committee, the Business Working Group.
Contact
For any questions, please reach out to Coline Godard at coline.godard@europsy.net.