Work place based assessment
Welcome to the CEMs workplace based assessment web site. The College has developed an assessment process that will provide non trainees (SAS doctors) and trainees (ST1 through to ST6) with a number of formative and summative assessment tools. Trainees should note that the WPBA completed within the ED are intended to be formative. With time the emphasis on different methods of assessment will change and evolve, but the system that we currently propose will produce an EM practitioner ‘fit for purpose’ to staff a modern Emergency Department.
The content of the assessments are mapped to the curriculum and is divided into the three stages of training – ACCS, ST3, and ST4-6. Although the tools remain the same, the clinical cases which are used for assessment reflect the competences to be acquired at each stage.
Formative assessments
Formative assessment consists of a number of WBPAs, using tools which will be familiar to trainees who have completed Foundation programme training (mini CEX, DOPS, CbD, Multisource feedback). Trainees will need to produce a specified number of WPBA’s using each of these tools for all 3 stages of training. The topics suggested for the assessments have been adapted to reflect the competencies required for each training period and become increasingly complex as the trainee progresses through the training programme. Assessment topics can be selected from a list provided for that particular stage of training.
The College is currently negotiating to use the NHS e-portfolio, but until access is confirmed, the assessment documentation will need to be in ‘hard copy’. The forms are available on line in each section, and should be printed out prior to assessment. The form should be then copied, with the original retained by the trainee (in the ‘Portfolio of Evidence’) and the copy sent to the educational supervisor (ES). The multisource feedback (MSF) will be collated locally by arrangement with the Deaneries.
Trainee will encounter three types of supervisor –
Clinical supervisor (CS) – who is the person who looks after the trainee on the shop floor and does the assessments. There may be lots of these per attachment.
Educational supervisor (ES) - the person who does the appraisal and the structured training reports (STR). They may also do some assessments and will do the CbD in most cases.
Clinical Tutor (CT) – the person who looks after a trainee during a section of training when the trainee may not have direct contact with their Educational Supervisor.
Trainees will be expected to meet with their ESs at the beginning, middle and end of each training period. During this time educational objectives will be set and these will be used to assess the trainee’s progress. Evidence of achievement of these objectives, together with the results of the WPBAs will inform the content of the structure training report (STR). This report, and the trainee’s ‘Portfolio of Evidence’, will be reviewed by the ARCP panel before the trainee is allowed to proceed to the next level of training.
Structured training reports (STR) need to be submitted at least a month before the ARCP panel meet so that any problems are identified. Trainees will be requested to attend the ARCP if there are any concerns. The Trainee should be fully aware of the content of the STR before it is submitted.
The completion of the WPBA’s and STRs is the trainees responsibility, if no documentation is produced for the ARCP it is very likely that the trainee will fail to progress.
Summative assessments
Evidence of successful progression through the training programme will also involve completion of a number of summative assessments. At deanery level, trainees will be expected to pass a test of knowledge appropriate to their level of training. This will take the form of a CEM ‘mock exam’ which will be quality controlled by the Education and Exam committee of the CEM. The frequency of this type of assessment will depend on individual EM schools and deaneries.
At a national level trainees would be expected to have obtained the MCEM part A to enter ST3, the MCEM part B and C before (or, for 2007 entrants during) ST4 and the FCEM prior to being awarded a CCT.
In addition, trainees will be expected to complete the three life support courses – ALS, ATLS, and APLS before ST4.
Work place-based assessments from August 2010
Work place-based assessments pre August 2010