The development of a summative assessment system for vocational trainees in general practice

Campbell, L. Malcolm (1996) The development of a summative assessment system for vocational trainees in general practice. MD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Vocational training for general practice has been a legal requirement in the United Kingdom since 1979. It was agreed by the relevant bodies in 1990 that trainers should only issue certificates of satisfactory completion to trainees deemed to be competent. A literature review revealed few studies looking at the effectiveness of this system of certification. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the current system of summative assessment and to investigate the possibility of developing a system with increased objectivity, validity and reliability. The specific objectives were: (I) to assess the nature and extent of assessment of trainees during their general practice year (ii) to explore the possibility of introducing an external and reliable method of trainee assessment (iii) to carry out an evaluation of the chosen method of consulting assessment (iv) to identify the effect of the introduction of an external system of summative assessment on the numbers of trainees identified as being not yet competent (v) to measure the effect of videotaping of consultations on patients (vi) to evaluate the impact of the introduction of summative assessment on the quality and quantity of practice based formative assessment (vii) in view of the significant number of trainees found to below satisfactory levels in consulting skills, to evaluate the nature and extent of communication skills teaching and assessment in the undergraduate teaching of UK medical schools.This thesis has demonstrated that the pre-existing system of trainee assessment was unsatisfactory with 14% of trainees being exposed to less than 2 assessment methods during their year. After 5 years of a mandatory assessment programme only 24% of trainees had been exposed to the mandatory minimum of assessment and 19% had been videoed less than three times in their trainee year. The pre-existing method identified very few unsatisfactory trainees (0.26% in the UK and less than 1% in the West of Scotland). A new validated system has now been adopted throughout the UK and is likely to increase considerably the number of trainees being refused certificates of prescribed experience and has already increased the West of Scotland figures to 5%. The new system also has implications for trainers, and potential implications for established principals and other specialities. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

• Item Type: Thesis (MD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: Professor Stuart Murray.
• Keywords: Health education, medicine, general practitioners, (GPs), training and assessment.
• Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences
• Date of Award: 1996
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1996-71319
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 May 2019 10:49
• Last Modified: 17 Oct 2022 09:21
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.71319
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71319