Based on ‘e portfolio pearls’ The e portfolio Based on ‘e portfolio pearls’

What’s it for? 2 main purposes: Enable ARCP panel to decide whether you should continue to progress through training, and whether you should get your CCT at the end An educational tool for your continuing professional development

It’s the glue that holds learning and assessment together

What the EP can do for you Give you a structured approach to each job (set objectives and tick them off) Help you identify areas for development Be a storage tool (memory stick) Be a jotter, more reliable than scraps of paper Get you into reflective mode Get you through nMRCGP Make reviews with supervisors more meaningful

Pearl no 1 - Don’t get hung up on where to put what Clinical encounters Professional conversations Tutorials Lectures and seminars Readings Courses and certificates Out of hours sessions (unscheduled care) Can link all to curriculum and to competencies

2 Write what’s helpful for you - things you want to remember Clinical conundrums Pearls of wisdom from others Difficult encounters with patients, colleagues or staff Things which went unexpectedly well (you can identify the skills you used)

3 Record at both general and specific levels General - ‘tutorial on headaches, red flag symptoms, migraine management, abdominal migraine in children’ - useful to demonstrate curriculum coverage Specific - ‘red flags (early morning headache, worse with bending, occipital, visual changes); abdo migraine in children - remember low dose pizotifen’ -uesful for your learning

4 Record your feelings Things which made you feel anxious, angry, frustrated - or good And your reflections on why it happened And what you have learned from it But be careful how you write it

5 Write in your natural style Will make it easier and more comfortable for you Will help your educational supervisor and others get a sense of you - makes it easier for them to help you

6 Visit the EP regularly Log in every day if you can (easy in GP posts) Make entries straight away Review whole picture regularly (e g number of assessments, curriculum and competency coverage) Doing it all at the last minute is obvious to ARCP panel and gives a bad impression

7 Quality, not quantity Educational supervisors and assessors don’t just count the number of entries They are looking for evidence of reflection and learning And you want it to be useful to you too

8 Use your PDP Simpler than trawling through log entries to see what needs to be done Makes you actually do the tasks you set out to do - so maximises learning A snag - supervisor has to have read shared log entry before you can submit it to PDP

9 Do more than minimum number of assessments Minimum number set for 6m post must be completed before the ES meeting before the ARCP meeting in month 5 Assessments are developmental, they help you learn (This is easier in GP posts!)

10 Don’t miss ES sessions 2 by end of 4th month of every 6m post Educational supervisor is with you throughout your training, source of help and support as well as e portfolio work

ARCP panels look for Good curriculum coverage Sufficient evidence of assessments (at least minimum number) Active PDP Good quality information OOH record (number of sessions and record of learning from them) Evidence of progression (impossible if all entries done at last minute)

More help from Guide on RCGP website to the technical aspects of filling it in E portfolio pearls document - on Bradford VTS and Deanery websites Trainers, educational supervisors, programme directors, more experienced trainees