The Diploma in Immediate Medical Care (DipIMC) is a qualification by examination from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, developed and run by its Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care. It tests the knowledge, skills and behaviours that underpin pre-hospital emergency care, and it is taken by doctors, paramedics and nurses working in — or moving into — pre-hospital emergency medicine. It is an exam, not a course, with a written component and an OSCE. This guide covers the format, who can sit it, what it tests, and how to prepare for a diploma with relatively few dedicated resources.
What the DipIMC is and who sits it
The DipIMC is a qualification by examination from RCSEd, administered by the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (FPHC), and it demonstrates the knowledge and skills underpinning pre-hospital emergency care. It is a deliberately multidisciplinary exam, taken by doctors, paramedics and nurses working in pre-hospital settings. You do not need formal pre-hospital experience to sit it, though the content is pitched at practitioner level. One point that catches people out: it is an exam, not a course, with no FPHC teaching programme attached, so preparation is self-directed — third-party preparation courses exist, but they are independent of the College.
Format: a written component and an OSCE
The DipIMC has a written component, made up of single-best-answer-style questions testing applied pre-hospital knowledge, and an OSCE of practical, scenario-based stations testing assessment, procedures and decision-making under pressure. The examination is usually held twice a year, and candidates are permitted four attempts. Applications must be endorsed by an FPHC Regional Examinations Advisor or a UK-approved pre-hospital emergency medicine (PHEM) Training Programme Director, who can also provide structured feedback after the exam.
What it tests
The syllabus spans the breadth of immediate and pre-hospital emergency care: airway and ventilation, trauma and haemorrhage control, medical emergencies, cardiac arrest and resuscitation, and the environmental and special situations that define the specialty — drowning, hypothermia and entrapment among them — alongside analgesia and sedation, scene safety and triage, major-incident principles, and the human factors central to safe pre-hospital practice. Knowledge of current UK resuscitation and trauma guidance, the medico-legal framework for pre-hospital care, and safe drug administration in the field all feature, as do the principles of working safely alongside ambulance, fire and police services at the scene. The standard is that of a competent pre-hospital practitioner, and the OSCE in particular rewards slick, safe practical performance rather than recall alone. For many candidates the diploma is a recognised marker of competence for roles in pre-hospital, retrieval, event and expedition medicine, and for voluntary schemes such as BASICS responders; it sits below the Faculty's higher pre-hospital qualifications as a foundation credential, and it is increasingly held by clinicians who want their pre-hospital practice formally recognised. It is also a sensible stepping stone for clinicians considering the Faculty's higher pre-hospital qualifications later in a career. Because pre-hospital care is delivered by mixed teams of doctors, paramedics and nurses, the exam is deliberately open across professional backgrounds, with the standard set to a common level for all.
2026 dates and fees
The DipIMC runs roughly twice yearly. The current dates, venue and fees are published in the RCSEd online examination calendar, so confirm both before applying. Last reviewed June 2026.
Pass rates
RCSEd and the FPHC do not routinely publish a headline DipIMC pass rate. The exam is well regarded and pitched at a genuine working standard, and under-prepared candidates tend to struggle on the OSCE rather than on the written paper. That pattern reflects the exam's design: the written paper tests whether you know the material, while the OSCE tests whether you can deliver it safely in a realistic, time-pressured scenario.
How to prepare
Because there is no official course, you will need to build your own structure around the FPHC curriculum and the core pre-hospital texts — the ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine is a standard reference — supplemented by the well-regarded PHEM podcasts and by question practice. For the written paper, drill applied single best answer questions across the syllabus and review each miss back to the underlying principle. For the OSCE, rehearse practical stations to fluency — airway, trauma, resuscitation and scenario management — ideally with peers or on a preparation course, because practical performance cannot be learned from reading alone. A sensible plan treats the two components as distinct: give the written paper steady, broad reading and question practice across the months beforehand, then concentrate on intensive practical rehearsal in the final weeks so the OSCE skills are automatic under pressure. Candidates often underestimate how much the OSCE rewards calm, systematic scene management and clear communication rather than just correct clinical decisions. Reputable preparation courses are explicit that they reveal no exam content; what they offer is structure, feedback and realistic practice, not leaked questions, so treat any resource promising more with suspicion.
Where iatroX fits
Dedicated DipIMC question resources are limited, which makes structured practice harder to find than for larger exams. iatroX offers a DipIMC bank, on iatroX's subscription (£29/month or £99/year), built around a Socratic tutor that works back through the reasoning behind a miss; questions mapped meticulously to the pre-hospital syllabus; spaced repetition; adaptive sequencing that targets your weak areas; and a mobile app, useful for revising between shifts. Pair it with hands-on station practice for the OSCE. Used together with realistic scenario rehearsal, that gives you both the knowledge base and the practical fluency the two components reward. A standalone question bank, DIMCPrep, also exists.
A few common questions
Do I need pre-hospital experience to sit the DipIMC? No — it is not a formal requirement, though the content assumes practitioner-level knowledge.
How many parts are there? A written component and an OSCE.
How many attempts do I get? Four.
Is iatroX's DipIMC bank free? Not in full — the bank is on iatroX's subscription (£29/month or £99/year), with free sample questions to try first.