CEM Revalidation Guidance



GMC Patient and Colleague Questionnaires

The GMC has produced Patient and Colleague Feedback Forms for general use. The College of Emergency Medicine is recommending that our members and fellows use these templates if none are provided by their employing organisations. Please see the links below for the Patient and Colleague Questionnaires and guidance documents for using them:

·        Colleague questionnaire (pdf)

·        Patient questionnaire (pdf)

·        Self assessment questionnaire (pdf)

·        Instructions for administering GMC colleague and patient questionnaires (pdf)

·        Information for appraisers: interpreting and handling feedback results (pdf)

·        Frequently Asked Questions for doctors and employers (pdf)

·        Frequently Asked Questions for patients (pdf)

·        Frequently Asked Questions for appraisers (pdf)

 

Supporting Information for Appraisal and Revalidation Checklist

A handy checklist for the supporting information required for Appraisal can be found at the link below:

http://secure.collemergencymed.ac.uk/code/document.asp?ID=6394

 

The EM specialty standards and interim guidance for Revalidation is available here:

Revalidation - interim guidance for EM doctors

The updated GMC Good Medical Practice Framework and Supporting Information for Appraisal and Revalidation documents are available here:

GMC Good Medical Practice Framework for Appraisal and Revalidation

GMC Supporting Information for Appraisal and Revalidation

A template form for ensuring legibility and clarity of Doctors' record keeping for Appraisal can be found here:

Data Proforma

A reflective template can be found by clicking into the link below:

Reflective Template

 

Specialty Standards Consultation Document

The Academy Of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) has worked with the Medical Faculties and Colleges to produce a revised Specialty Standards Guidance document. For ease of reference, the document gives generic guidance on supporting information required for annual appraisals and revalidation, followed by specialty specific guidance for those working in Emergency Medicine at the end of each section.

The consulation document aims to simplify the previous guidance provided. To view the revised Specialty Standards Guidance click on the followinglink:

http://secure.collemergencymed.ac.uk/code/document.asp?ID=6008

Principles

The College has developed standards for all doctors practising within Emergency Medicine and identified a range of supporting information for revalidation.  The specialty standards are in line with the generic standards and criteria outlined in the GMC’s Framework for Appraisal and Assessment which is an adaptation of Good Medical Practice. The Specialist Standards Framework is designed to support doctors in the positive demonstration of their specialist practice.

Their purpose is to:

  • Help doctors understand and prepare for their appraisal and revalidation
  • Provide guidance for appraisers to discuss and consider the specialist practice of appraisees
  • Assist the Responsible Officer and/or the College representative(s) in determining the revalidation recommendation of an individual doctor.

The specialty standards are set out in 3 columns; the first lists the GMC attributes of good medical practice, the second lists the standards for Emergency Medicine and the third lists the supporting information required.  The principles of the specialty standards correlate closely to the GMC’s Framework for Appraisal and Assessment and there is a bibliography listing the sources of supporting information for each standard, with particular reference to the Emergency Medicine curriculum. At the end of the standards documentation there is a detailed list of the potential supporting information that can be collected by an individual. It is highlighted that the supporting information collected for an individual is underpinned by that individual’s job plan.

The specialty standards and supporting information requirements have been developed from the Emergency Medicine Training Curriculum and existing College guidance on revalidation (2006) and guidelines for CPD (2006).

In defining the supporting information required for revalidation the College’s aim has been to avoid duplicating the collection of data required for relicensing but to inform the revalidation process with additional material applicable to the standards. The College has defined core supporting information relevant to all Emergency Medicine physicians and additional supporting information for doctors performing specific roles (e.g. additional supporting information is required for doctors with management, teaching or research roles).

Development

The standards have been developed by the Revalidation subcommittee in conjunction with numerous other College committees. A survey of all Fellows was initially conducted to inform development of the draft standards (30% of Fellows responded). A consultation on the draft standards was conducted in the summer of 2009, which was open to all Fellows and Members of the College and the College Lay Advisory Group. In addition the Revalidation subcommittee is conducting a Delphi to achieve a consensus about the type of supporting information required for specialty standards. All Fellows and Members of the College were also asked to respond to the Academy consultation on the standards in September 2009.

The College is proposing to undertake an annual review and update of those aspects of the process or standards that are identified as problematic or ambiguous in the early phase of revalidation.  In addition, the standards framework will be fully reviewed at a maximum 3 yearly interval to take into account any changes in the evidence base or new developments in specific methods or information gathered as a part of the revalidation process.

Sign-off

The specialist standards have been provisionally approved by the GMC, pending the findings from the GMC consultation on revalidation which is open until 4 June 2010. 

Guidance

The College Revalidation Subcommittee has produced initial guidance for EM doctors about revalidation, which includes:

  • An outline of the proposed revalidation process and what it means for you
  • Advice on the quantity and quality of supporting information you will need to collect
  • Information about current piloting projects in England
  • The role of the College
  • Sources of further information and a glossary of terms and organisations involved
  • The EM specialty standards, bibliography and checklist.

Next Steps

The Revalidation subcommittee will use feedback from the current pilots, GMC consultation and ongoing developments to update the guidance and framework accordingly.