» What will the new Curriculum contain?
» The Curriculum documentation is extensive, what are the priorities?
» What else is in the Curriculum?
» Do I have to meet all the learning outcomes in every curriculum statement?
» How will teaching and learning change?
» What form will the new Assessments take?
» How will the Certification and Assessment changes take place?
- Important changes in curriculum, assessment and certification are being introduced over the next few years
- Being a GP is the most important curriculum statement and you should become very familiar with it
- Even if you are already on a scheme at present, there are important changes to the way you obtain your Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT)
- If you are just starting on a three year scheme for General Practice, the assessment and MRCGP examination at the end will be different from what happens now
- More detail about these changes and the reasons for change can be found in The New GP Curriculum – an overview from the West Midlands Deanery web site Downloads section
What will
the new Curriculum contain?
The curriculum is stated in terms of what knowledge, skills,
attitudes and expertise the learner will achieve. It covers:
Generic professional competencies
The qualities that are expected from all doctors, such as those that
appear in Good Medical Practice.
Competencies that are specific to General Practice
There are many skills expected of GPs but some can be referred
to as core skills and are found in the statement Being a GP.
Examples of core skills are: managing the primary contact with
patients, consulting in a patient-centred way, selective
history-taking, tolerating uncertainty, managing co-morbidity, fair
and efficient use of resources and having a holistic approach to
practice.
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The Curriculum documentation is extensive, what are the priorities?
The most important curriculum statement is Being a GP. Become
familiar with this, and the rest will follow easily. To a great
extent, the other curriculum statements merely interpret the core
skills in a variety of contexts. They will help you prepare for
assessments but are not essential reading for the early days.
Two other documents are worth read early in training: firstly The
Enhanced Trainer’s Report which will orientate you to how you will
be assessed in the workplace and what is the standard you have to
reach in order to pass your assessments; and also read the
curriculum statement The General Practice Consultation which
outlines the communication skills needed to make good diagnostic and
management decisions.
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What else is in the
Curriculum?
There are statements on the professional and managerial aspects of
general practice; a series of statements on the care of special
groups (acutely ill, children, elderly, women’s & men’s health,
sexual health, cancer & palliative care, learning disabilities) and
statements on clinical areas (cardiovascular, neurological, skin,
metabolic, respiratory, musculoskeletal, trauma, ENT, eyes,
digestive problems, mental health, minor surgery).
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Do I have to meet all the learning outcomes in every curriculum
statement?
We believe that all the learning outcomes listed are achievable
within the three years of GP training.
How will
teaching and learning change?
The most obvious change is that more training for general practice
will take place in practice rather than hospitals. All three year
rotations in this Deanery will contain some general practice in the
first year as well as 12 months in a practice at the end. The middle
section will be spent in speciality training in shorter (usually 4
month) posts, either in hospitals or in innovative posts. A
diversity of programmes may include traditional half-day release
programmes, more flexible, self-selected teaching modules or a
mixture of both, whatever is appropriate for the individual’s
learning preferences and final career choices. There will be a
one-to-one relationship with a trainer as a mentor throughout the
three years.
What form
will the new Assessments take?
Summative assessment and the MRCGP exam are merging into a single
assessment called nMRCGP.
There are three elements to this new assessment:
1. Workplace-Based Assessment (WBA), which will take place
throughout the three years;
2. Applied Knowledge Test (AKT), a machine-marked test
3. Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA), which will probably take place
at the start of the third year.
Satisfactory completion of these three components will make
candidates eligible for Membership of RCGP
More detail about assessment can be found in the fact sheet The New
GP Curriculum – Assessment available at
http://www.wmdeanery.org/Downloads/downloads.asp
How will the Certification and Assessment changes take place?
The transition arrangements are still being decided so much of the
detail here is provisional (Make sure you check the facts with the
relevant authorities).
The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) have
taken over responsibility for certification (from the JCPTGP). They
have indicated that, until they have approved the new curriculum,
the regulatory framework for a Certificate of Completion of Training
(CCT) will remain the standard of Summative Assessment. Details are
on the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) website.
The college - through its Certification Unit - will process all
applications to practise as a GP in the UK on behalf of the PMETB.
Doctors in training should register with the RCGP Certification Unit
as soon as possible after starting their programme, a one-off
payment of £350 covers all processing of documents, as well as
associate membership of the RCGP.
For people on three-year schemes the transition is already fairly
clearly laid out. The MRCGP becomes the nMRCGP in August 2008. For
any GP registrars doing self-construct schemes, planning a break or
working part-time, the transition will be managed to ensure that no
GPR is disadvantaged. The old exam will overlap for a short time,
but if you register for the old exam (up to Feb 08) there will be a
shorter time available to sit all the modules. The expectation is
that most GP registrars will choose to undertake the new assessment
because it is more straightforward.
What
if some of my training took place outside the UK?
If some of your training was undertaken abroad, you have had no UK
training, or some of your UK posts were not approved for training,
but you believe you meet the standards required of a UK GP then,
instead of applying for a CCT, you apply to PMETB under article 11.
Information on this is found on the PMETB website at:
http://www.pmetb.org.uk/index
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Further information
There are further information sheets available from the Deanery
downloads section:
http://www.wmdeanery.org/Downloads/downloads.asp#gp