Reviewing the evidence
WPBA is a process of collecting evidence to
build up a qualitative picture of the GPStR’s performance in
training. The evidence collected in the ePortfolio will be reviewed
at six monthly intervals by either the educational supervisor or
the trainer (arrangements differ between deaneries) and there will
be a final, holistic judgement (the final ARCP) at the end of
training which will be based on a synthesis of all the
evidence.
How will the reviews
be carried out?
What
standards should be used?
Why do we have six-monthly
reviews?
FAQs
How will the reviews be carried out?
For the six monthly reviews, the GPStR will
first conduct a self-assessment. Progress will be assessed by the
trainer or educational supervisor against each of the twelve
competence areas. Each review will be informed by the evidence
collected through the WPBA tools, augmented by any naturally
occurring evidence. A learning plan will then be agreed. All this
information will be recorded in a standardised format in the
ePortfolio. It is anticipated that the review will take somewhere
between 1 and 2 hours.
The reviews provide an opportunity to consider
the breadth of coverage of the curriculum as well as the specified
competence areas. It maybe useful to refer to the blueprint, which
demonstrates how different areas of the curriculum might be related
to training experience but this should not be used as a rigid
checklist
The reviews will not cover evidence of
learning that is rich in knowledge, such as may arise from
tutorials. However, this type of evidence will allow the GPStR and
the trainer to monitor how the knowledge base of the curriculum is
being covered in preparation for the AKT.
In the early stages of training it is unlikely
that the GPStR will be able to provide evidence of readiness to
practise. The structured evidence, considered against the
competence framework will highlight the areas where the GPStR is
doing well and those areas where more learning and support is
needed. Thus each of the six monthly reviews will lead to a
learning plan designed to enable the GPStR to collect more evidence
of competence and to build up a richer picture of readiness for
practice.
Toward the end of training a final review is
conducted, this time without the self assessment of the GPStR. The
trainer or educational supervisor will make a recommendation to the
deanery regarding the overall competence of the GPStR. This
recommendation will be subject to external moderation in the
deanery by an expert panel including a lay person and a
representative of the RCGP.
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What standards should be used?
The standard against which the GPStR is judged
is always the level of competence expected of a doctor who is
certified to practise independently as a general practitioner. This
standard is used throughout the three years of training. This means
that in the first two years of training the GPStR is being judged
against the standard they should have reached at the end of
training. Inevitably there will be less evidence from the
application of the WPBA tools in the first two years of training,
and more developmental needs will
be identified. This is what the assessment
system is designed to do, so that further training experiences can
be directed toward the developmental needs of GPStRs.
The GPStR must show competence in all twelve
competence areas by the end of year 3.
Trainers are expected to use their personal
experience as a GP to judge whether the evidence for each
competence area and the totality of evidence indicate that the
GPStR is ready for independent practice.
Why do we have six-monthly reviews?
The six monthly reviews are used to provide
feedback to the GPStR on overall
progress, to identify areas where there needs
to be more focused training and to identify
doctors in difficulty. These reviews must be
carried out even if they do not coincide
exactly with the end of placements. This
ensures there is sufficient evidence for useful
feedback to be offered on every occasion.
Doctors training flexibly are also required to
undergo reviews at six monthly intervals and
must collect the same amount of evidence
for each review as full time trainees.
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FAQs
Q. Should appraisals be
incorporated into the review process?
A. The six monthly reviews
are educational appraisals. The evidence collection and regular
review process should satisfy any modification of the NHS appraisal
process.
Q. What would an educational
supervisor or trainer do if they have concerns about a GPStR?
A. The educational supervisor
would follow the arrangements in their deanery for reporting
concerns. Educational supervisors will need to be familiar with
these arrangements, particularly in respect of serious concerns
which arise outside the cycle of deanery panels. Serious issues of
professional performance or ill health during hospital training
will need to be handled by normal trust/PCT/deanery
mechanisms.
Q. Should there be
calibration of CbDs and COTs at scheme or at deanery level?
A. This is not necessary as
these tools simply serve to gather information which is considered
at the six monthly reviews. Although each CbD or COT is pushing the
trainer to make judgements against the competences, the purpose of
this is to elicit information which feeds into the overall picture
of the GPStR and generates feedback to them. There is no pass or
fail for CbDs and COTs or for any other separate WPBA tool.
Q. How much evidence of each
competence does a GPStR need in order to complete the WPBA?
A. Assessment of
competences is about making a qualitative judgement not a
quantitative one. We would expect that at the end of ST3 the GPStR
will have several sets of evidence in each competence area,
collected from a range of settings and through different tools.
However, the only requirement is that there is enough evidence to
enable the trainer to feel confident that the GPStR is competent to
practise. Each portfolio will look slightly different, but it
should provide a rich picture of competence built up over three
years. The “ticks” in the ePortfolio are simply a way of keeping a
shared, transparent and systematic record of evidence.
Q. How do we record
when a trainee is poor at his or her work, or incompetent?
A. The process of
workplace based assessment is about recording when and at what
level an individual demonstrates competence. If an individual is
incompetent there are often reasons related to employment or
personal reasons why that may be so, and they need to be addressed
through the appropriate channels. Any probity issue should of
course be recorded within the ePortfolio.
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