Draft:College of Remote and Offshore Medicine

The College of Remote and Offshore Medicine is a higher education institute in Malta. It provides higher education courses and qualifications related to remote and Wilderness medicine. The college probably being best known for its work in the field of Prolonged Field Care. The College of Remote and Offshore Medicine (CoROM) Foundation was founded in 2016 as a non-profit higher education institution. It is based in Malta and accredited by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority to award undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The college is also accredited by the Wilderness Medical Society to run programmes which carry credit for the Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) qualification, and by European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) when providing other educaitonal activities. The college is governed by a voluntary board of medical professionals (physicians, nurses and paramedics) and researchers from around the world.

History and collaborative work
The college champions remote and Wilderness medicine internationally and members are regularly invited to share their expertise with other organisations; having contributed experts to a number of podcast, expert panels at military medicine and rescue conferences,  Australasian College of Paramedicine and to the Larrey Society.

The college's academics have also been invited specialty advisors with the newly established Faculty of Remote Rural and Humanitarian Health at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in developing international capability frameworks for remote and rural clinicians, with two faculty, O'Kelly and Mallinson, being two of their inaugural Fellows. The college is also an organisational partner with the Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine. College faculty have international clinical experience with organisations such as the NHS Scotland and Air Zermatt as well as war zones.

The college also offers a full scholarship onto the Masters programme for candidates awarded Medic of the Year from the Special Operations Medical Association. It is is also part of the European Prehospital Research Network alongside institutions in Norway, England and Poland.

Campus
The college's main campus is in Pretty Bay/Birzebbuga, Malta. This comprises classroom facilities with scope to emulate a remote clinic setting. A secondary location on Malta is a local ambulance station which provides another setting to replicate a remote and austere working environment and provides access to ambulances for education around patient packaging and transport.

The college facilitates international clinical placements for its students. These include Johannesburg, Tanzania and prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in Ternopil National Medical University Hospital in Ukraine, the latter of which the college has continued to support during the war. The college also runs a cadaveric surgical skills course in Tanzania, which is the only cadaver course available with a focus on Wilderness Medicine. The college also runs the Austere Emergency Care course in both Malta and Horten, Norway.

Academic profile
The college is divided into a number of departments, coordinated by the Dean.

Non-departmental awards
In 2021 they awarded the CoROM Medic of the Year award to Dr Luke Regan, a Scottish prehospital care doctor who created the Highland PICT Team.

Short courses
The college runs a number of short courses, both online and face to face. These cover a broad range of topics in relation to Wilderness Medicine, including ones which focus on Austere Medicine, tropical medicine and a “highly practical” point of care ultrasound specifically designed for remote, austere and resource-limited environments accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. They are the recognised provider of International Trauma Life Support courses for Malta and Gozo.

Podcast
Since 2022 the college has produced a podcast on topics relating to remote medicine, prolonged casualty care and trauma care.

Field guide and newsletter
The college also produce a field guide for clinicians, which is recommended by the International Board of Specialty Certification (IBSC) as a core study resource for their Certified Wilderness Paramedic examination and has been reviewed as "the best pocket manual for deployed medics worldwide" and being "well worth your time and pocket space" and it is being used on the NATO Special Operations Combat Medic Course. The college also produce a regular journal newsletter (The Compass) for remote and tactical medics.