Education and Training

New workplace based assessments for Specialty Registrars in Occupational Medicine

Forms, support materials, assessor training

Although the details of each type of WBA differ, most are supported by a similar panel of forms and guidelines, comprising:

introduction to the tool
guidelines for the assessor
guidelines for the trainee
an assessment recording form (comprising a series of tick boxes against different areas of performance, with a space to record the lessons learned and actions planned or taken)
a form/instructions that allow the educational supervisor to summarise, in one place, the outcome of a family of related WBA's for a training year (e.g. all the min-CEX WBA's for year 1).

Mini-CEX (Clinical Evaluation Exercise)			Sitting in on, and formally scoring a trainee's consultation with a patient
Introduction	Assessor's guidelines	Trainee's guidelines	Assessment form	Supervisor's annual summary form & guidance
Directly observed procedures (DOPS)			Marks the trainee's ability to perform commonly required procedures
Introduction	Assessor's guidelines	Trainee's guidelines	Assessment form	Supervisor's annual summary form & guidance
Multi-source feedback (MSF)			A form of questionnaire-based 360 degree appraisal
Introduction	Rater's guidelines		Assessment form	Supervisor's annual summary form & guidance
Case-based discussion (CBD)			Requires trainers and trainees to discuss a selection of cases and trainers to score the trainee's performance against a pre-specified range of competencies
Introduction	Assessor's guidelines	Trainee's guidelines	Assessment form	Supervisor's annual summary form & guidance
Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL(OH))			A tool for assessing the quality of a trainee's correspondence to managers and health professionals
Introduction	Assessment form 1	Assessment form 2		Supervisor's annual summary forms & guidance

Additionally, where available, we offer details of other support material e.g. contact details of organisations that offer assessor training in WBA's, self-learning CD-ROMs, web links to video clips, and advice from deaneries and other Colleges. These support resources are under development, and the Steering Group would appreciate suggestions for useful additions to the site, as well as notification of links that are no longer active. Please contact Emma Dawson.

We recommend that all clinical and educational supervisors familiarise themselves carefully with the basic forms and instructions. We also recommend that, insofar as these are available, all WBA assessors seek further training in WBA's (e.g. courses by organisations that offer assessor training, self-learning CD-ROM) to gain practice in the methods.

RSA's, Training Programme Directors, and local STC committee members will wish to acquaint themselves with the forms and processes.

Two copies of each WBA (one original and a photocopy) need to be kept – one each for:
a) the trainee (to enter into the learning portfolio);
b) the educational supervisor (to support quarterly educational appraisal and feedback to the trainee).

The annual summary form for a given WBA is maintained and built up through the course of a training year by the educational supervisor. Following an end of year review with the trainee, this form feeds into the deanery Annual Review of Competence Progress (ARCP), with copies retained by supervisor and trainee.