We require 2 components as evidence to demonstrate your competence:

1. Sign-offs from the Medicine (yellow) and Surgery (green) Handbooks for the Third Year and the Learning Portfolio for the Final Year which you receive at the start of the year.

We ask that you scan and upload the appropriate sign-offs to your eFolio. The sign-offs for Final Year require a signature and name printed, together with the grade/position of the person signing you off; the date and wherever possible, the registration number of that person. If you have not got some of these details for competencies thus far, please don’t worry; write the ward and the Trust instead. Please endeavour to collect this information for any competencies not yet achieved, thank you. You will also receive certificates (both paper and electronic) for on-line Trust Induction modules, BLS and on-line learning modules; you can upload these where appropriate too. These help to demonstrate that you have achieved skills and add some external validity to an eFolio skill marked as ‘Competent’.

AND

2. Brief description/commentary/reflection on experience gained to indicate context, learning points and perhaps future learning needs for most/all skills. We ask for this in addition to the sign-offs as it helps to give a more detailed picture of your learning journey and it adds authenticity to your eFolio. You could describe and reflect on a clinical encounter in which you undertook some of the clinical skills listed in the eFolio. For example, if you have clerked a patient, gained IV access, taken blood and sent this off to the labs, set up fluids (all the tasks you will need to perform as a Foundation doctor), you could describe this, briefly commenting on any difficult or challenging aspects, or learning points for the future. This is sometimes described as ‘naturally occurring evidence’ – it is simply a means of capturing your learning experience and making it explicit. You may also choose to scan and upload an anonymised ECG which you have performed, discussing some aspect of taking and interpreting it. Ask yourself which aspects you found challenging, and consider why that might have been. This is far more useful than a ‘tick box’ list I’m sure you would agree, and we hope, a more educational approach, which offsets the tendency to ‘tickbox culture’ ¹. We would like to encourage a culture of independent thought, reasoning and reflection. The objective external evidence of the ‘sign-off’ is also required by the GMC.

For clinical skills you have gained previously in your undergraduate training, why not describe what you have done and experienced as far as possible and upload anything that you feel is relevant where you can. Many Final Year students last year provided some excellent entries which were both descriptive and reflective. Practicing this skill will help prepare you for the ePortfolio you will use during Foundation Training.