Education and Training

New workplace based assessments for Specialty Registrars in Occupational Medicine

What types of WBAs are there? How have they been developed and tested?

WBAs are really important to trainees, and we appreciate the time supervisors give in support of the learning experience.

Our training curriculum refers at present to five types of WBA (which are in addition to two centrally administered examinations).

These tools have been adopted by many colleges and faculties.

Mini-CEX, DOPS and MSF were piloted by the Royal College of Physicians in 2003 and tested for their reliability, feasibility and validity - see PMETB. Workplace Based Assessment, a paper from the PMETB Workplace Based Assessment Subcommittee, January 2005.

The reliability of Mini-CEX and MSF have also been evaluated by researchers - see PMETB. Developing and maintaining an assessment system - a PMETB guide to good practice (2007), Box 1, p9.

SAIL has been assessed for its validity and reliability in the context of correspondence between health care professionals - see Crossley JGM et al. Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL): performance assessment using outpatient letters. Medical Education 2001; 35: 1115-1124
and Fox AT et al. Improving the quality of outpatient clinic letters using the Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL). Medical Education 2004; 38: 857-858.

Mini-CEX, DOPS, MSF and CBD have been piloted and widely used in Foundation Training - see http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pages/assessment.

Further developmental work on these tools is ongoing in many specialties, including ours.

The forms and guidelines on this website have been adapted by a Steering Group of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, to fit the context and everyday content of occupational physicians’ jobs. They have been piloted in training with some assessors and trainees and have been modified to take account of the helpful feedback. However, experience of their application is still at an early stage, and the Steering Group welcomes feedback, both positive and negative, from trainers, trainees, and others that will assist in their refinement (contact: Emma Dawson). The Steering Group will review each tool during the early stages of implementation; a more formal evaluation will be organised by the Faculty SAC over the coming year.