Content of a trainer's report for summative assessment in general practice: views of trainers

Abstract

Background: Summative assessment of doctors completing general practice vocational training will become compulsory for those completing training after 1 September 1996. One component of the assessment will be a trainer's report.

Aim: A study set out to consider the content of the trainer's report. It aimed to determine which elements of general practice general practitioner trainers believe are the most important for independent general practice; to seek the views of trainers as to the most appropriate methods for assessing these elements in summative assessment of general practitioner registrars; and to determine how frequently trainers have been sufficiently concerned about the performance of registrars to consider not signing the form denoting satisfactory completion of the training year.

Method: A questionnaire was sent to 1296 general practitioner trainers in the United Kingdom. The main outcome measures used were: the percentage of respondents indicating that an element was very important/crucial for independent general practice; the percentage of respondents indicating a favoured method of assessment that did not include a trainer's report at all; and the proportion of trainers who had ever considered not signing the form denoting satisfactory completion of the training year.

Results: The response rate was 78%. Of 75 elements examined, 31 were considered important for independent general practice by 70% or more of respondents. For 29 of these 31 elements, fewer than 30% of respondents would choose a method of assessment that did not include a trainer's report at all. Twenty-six per cent of respondents had considered not signing the form denoting satisfactory completion of the training year, which represents a trainer considering not signing this form once every 29 years.

Conclusion: These results provide a basis for the content of a structured trainer's report for summative assessment in general practice; such a report is likely to contain about 30 items. Data from the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice and the present study suggest that, for every form not signed, trainers considered not signing the forms of another 13 general practitioner registrars. This highlights the need for a report that will help trainers to make the difficult decision as to whether or not a registrar is ready for independent practice.