Assessment
You will be responsible for your learning during the foundation years. You will have to show your seniors that you have learnt and that you have achieved an acceptable level of competence. These are the assessments that you will undergo during your foundation years.
There are four different types of assessment tools. They will show you exactly how you will be assessed.
Direct observation of procedural skills (DOPS)
DOPS is designed to provide feedback on your skills at doing procedures. You will have to undertake six observed encounters during the year with a different observer for each encounter.
Multi-source feedback
Mini-Peer Assessment Tool (mini-PAT) or Team Assessment Behaviour (TAB)
Mini-PAT and TAB are the two available tools used in the Foundation Programme, designed to collate views from a range of coworkers for 360° assessment. You should find out which tool your Foundation School is using.
Mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX)
Mini-CEX gives a 15 minute snapshot of your interaction with patients. It is designed to assess your clinical skills, attitudes, and behaviour as a doctor.
Case based discussion (CbD)
You will have to present and discuss your patients with senior colleagues regularly throughout your training. But these conversations will rarely be documented. The aim of the case based discussion is to help your supervisor provide you with a systematic assessment and structured feedback. You should select two case records from patients you have recently seen. Your assessor will select one of these for the case based discussion.
Direct observation of procedural skills (DOPS)
Direct observation of procedural skills is designed to help your seniors give you feedback on procedures that you do. These procedures will be core ones that are essential to the provision of good clinical care. You will have to undertake six observed procedures during the year.
Each DOPS that you do should represent a different procedure. You will choose the timing, the procedure, and the observer.
Assessors: in hospitals these will be experienced specialist registrars, staff grade doctors, SHOs, experienced nurses, or consultants. In primary care, these will be the GP trainer, other GPs, or appropriate nurses.
Number of assessments required per year: 6
Estimated time required: 20 minutes (15 minutes for assessment, 5 minutes for feedback)
You can get the draft copies of the DOPS forms here:
http://www.hcat.nhs.uk/foundation/DOPS.htm
Multi-source feedback
Mini-Peer Assessment Tool (mini-PAT) or Team Assessment Behaviour (TAB)
Mini-PAT and TAB are the two available tools used in the Foundation Programme, designed to collate views from a range of coworkers for 360° assessment. You should find out which tool your Foundation School is using.
Mini-PAT (Peer Assessment Tool)
Using questions derived from the General Medical Council's framework for good practice for all doctors in the UK, the Mini-PAT questionnaire provides feedback from a range of the trainee's coworkers.
The trainee will nominate eight assessors from among supervising consultants, GP principals, staff grades, experienced specialist registrars, SHOs, other foundation doctors, and experienced nursing or interdisciplinary colleagues to fill out a questionnaire. The trainee will also complete a self assessment using the same questionnaire. (Assessment forms are sent directly to the assessors from the central office to ensure that the individual assessors' views remain unknown to the trainee.)
Feedback is gathered electronically at the assessment centre and is presented on a chart showing:
- The self ratings
- The mean nominated assessor ratings
- The national mean ratings.
Comments are anonymised, but produced verbatim. The trainee and educational supervisor agree strengths and key areas for development from the feedback.
Assessors: Supervising consultants, GP principals, staff grades, experienced specialist registrars, SHOs, other foundation doctors, and experienced nursing or allied health professional colleagues.
Number of assessments required per year: 2
Estimated time required: 6 minutes per assessment per assessor (x 8 assessors)
For more information on Mini-PAT click here:
http://www.hcat.nhs.uk/foundation/mini-PAT.htm
Team Assessment Behaviour (TAB)
The TAB questionnaire enables you to select 10 coworkers to assess you and give feedback to your Foundation Training Programme Director. Each trainee selects 10 coworkers to assess them and distributes the forms with envelopes addressed to the Foundation Training Programme Director. Each assessor is asked to complete and return the form to the director. Even new assessors take less than five minutes to complete a form.
Assessors should include at least five qualified nurses, preferably ward sisters, and three doctors including the current supervising consultant or general practitioner. Trainees receive feedback from their educational supervisor, who will quote all written comments verbatim, and provide a summary form showing the marks and comments for inclusion in the trainee's portfolio.
Assessors: Supervising consultants, GP principals, staff grades, experienced specialist registrars, SHOs, other foundation doctors, and experienced nursing or allied health professional colleagues.
Number of assessments required per year: 1
Estimated time required: 3 minutes per assessment per assessor (x 10 assessors)
For more information on the TAB forms click here:
http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pages/assessment/msf
Mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX)
Mini-CEX is a 15 minute snapshot of doctor-patient interaction. It is designed to assess the clinical skills, attitudes, and behaviours of trainees essential to providing high quality care.
Trainees will be asked to undertake six observed encounters during the year with a different observer for each encounter. Each of these encounters should represent a different clinical problem.
Immediate feedback will be provided by the observer rating the trainee. Trainers and trainees will need to identify and agree strengths, areas for development, and an action plan for each encounter.
Assessors: These may be staff grades, experienced specialist registrars, or consultants in a secondary care setting, or the GP trainer or other GPs in a primary care setting.
Number of assessments required per year: 6
Estimated time required: 20 minutes (15 minutes for assessment, 5 minutes for feedback)
You can get the draft copies of the Mini-CEX forms here:
http://www.hcat.nhs.uk/foundation/mini-CEX.htm
Case based discussion (CbD)
Trainees regularly present and discuss their cases with more experienced colleagues throughout their training, though rarely are those conversations documented. The aim of CbD is to enable an assessor to provide systematic assessment and structured feedback. The trainee will select two case records from patients they have recently seen and in whose notes they have made an entry. The assessor will select one of these for the case based discussion session.
The discussion will start from and be centred on the trainee's record in the notes and is designed to assess clinical decision making and the application or use of medical knowledge in the care of the trainee's own patients. It enables the discussion of the ethical and legal framework of practice, and it allows trainees to discuss why they acted as they did.
The trainee will choose the timing, the cases, and the assessor, but the direct supervising consultant should be one of the observers for each clinical placement.
Assessors: Experienced specialist registrars, staff grades, or consultants in a secondary care setting. The trainer and other GPs in a primary care setting.
Number of assessments required per year: 6
Estimated time required: 20 minutes (15 minutes for assessment, 5 minutes for feedback)
The CBD forms can now be completed online. For information on how to do this click here:
