Monitoring RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Programmes

RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme Monitoring

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In 2016-17 the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme* is making a transition to using the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) for assessment, and recommending wider use of the ISCP in other curriculum areas. Between April and December 2016, the Scheme recommends that currently approved or newly approved Fellowships start or continue to use the ISCP for assessment. From 1 January 2017, all Fellowship assessment is required to use the ISCP assessment methodology. Please contact qa@rcseng.ac.uk if you have any questions about this transition.

RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Monitoring requirement from 1 January 2017

It is a requirement of all posts that have been approved as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme to comply with the Scheme’s monitoring processes as set out in this document. The Scheme’s monitoring processes are as follows:

1. The RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship supervisor sends the RCS - to the qa@rcseng.ac.uk email address – each fellow’s: i) full name, ii) email address and iii) fellowship start and end date;
2. That all RCS Senior Clinical Fellows complete an online review or evaluation of their post after the first three months of the post, and at the end of, or shortly after the conclusion of, their fellowship post, using the ISCP website (see below for further information);
3. That the supervisor or person(s) responsible for the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship posts provide a report on the fellowship using the ISCP website (see below) at the end of each year of the approval period: this annual report should include details of the progress of each postholder; any assessment undertaken and the outcomes; any issues with the postholder(s) or the fellowship(s) in general; any planned amendments to the post; and any other information deemed appropriate by the supervisor;
4. The supervisor is also responsible for ensuring the RCS Senior Clinical Fellow provides interim and final evaluations or reviews;
5. That either the RCS Senior Clinical Fellow or the supervisor ensure that the fellow’s logbook is available to the RCS and reviewers via the ISCP website at the end of, or shortly after the conclusion of, a fellowship post.

Use of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) for assessment of RCS Senior Clinical Fellows

RCS Senior Clinical Fellows and Fellowship supervisors are required by the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme to use the ISCP https://www.iscp.ac.uk/ to keep a record of assessments undertaken as part of the fellowship curriculum. The scheme recommends that fellows undertake at least one Workplace-Based Assessment per month. The Scheme recommends that over the duration of the fellowship a balance of the following types of assessment is used: Case-Based Discussion; Clinical Evaluation Exercise; Procedure-Based Assessment; Observation of Teaching; Assessment of Audit; and Multi-Source Feedback. The record of these assessments will be used by reviewers when deciding to award completion certificates to RCS Senior Clinical Fellows, and when fellowships are being reviewed for re-approval. Fellows will need to be registered with the ISCP, and supervisors will need to have access to the ISCP.

Wider use of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) for RCS Senior Clinical Fellowships

The RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme strongly recommends that other elements of the ISCP are used for fellowships for the development of the fellow’s portfolio, including the:

• syllabus
• logbook
• learning agreement:
  • objective setting within first three weeks
  • interim review after first three months
  • final review

For those not familiar with the ISCP, the ‘Help’ section of the ISCP website includes guides for Trainees and for Assigned Educational Supervisors. If you need help, the ISCP Helpdesk can help with technical issues and general enquiries between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Telephone: 020 7869 6299; email: helpdesk@iscp.ac.uk

Annual monitoring fee

To cover the costs of monitoring, the RCS will charge a nominal fee at the end of each year of approval. Details of the fee can be found on the Accreditation portal at http://accreditation.rcseng.ac.uk/Home/Fees.

Quality Assurance

At the end of each year following the approval, the RCS’ Quality Assurance and Accreditation Department will submit the feedback from the fellow(s), along with the report from the supervisor, to the College Quality Assurance Operational Group, and also to the Surgical Specialty Association(s) involved in approving the fellowship. The reports collected during the approval period will feed into any re-approval application.

Failure to comply with this monitoring process may result in approval being withdrawn from the Fellowship post.

*Formerly the National Surgical Fellowship Scheme – the Scheme was renamed in April 2016

Fellowship Monitoring process until 31.12.16

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The guidance below is the guidance which is being phased out during April-December 2016, and replaced by the above guidance, which requires use of the ISCP assessment methodology for Fellowships. During April – December 2016 new and current Fellows and Fellowship Supervisors are encouraged to transition to the ISCP-based monitoring process. Please contact qa@rcseng.ac.uk if you have any questions about this transition.

It is a requirement of all posts that have been approved as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme*, to comply with the Scheme’s monitoring processes as set out in this document. The Scheme’s monitoring processes are:

1. That all fellows complete an online evaluation of their post at the end of, or shortly after the conclusion of their fellowship post
2. That the lead trainer or person(s) responsible for the fellowship posts provide a report on the fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of England Quality Assurance Department at the end of each year of the Approval period
3. That either the fellow or the lead trainer provide a copy of the fellowship logbook to the Royal College of Surgeons of England Quality Assurance Department at the end of, or shortly after the conclusion of a fellowship post

Online Evaluation

The Royal College of Surgeons of England has created a dedicated website which will enable fellowship postholders to feed back their views on their fellowship experience. Postholders will be required to firstly complete some general questions in order that they may be recognised, followed by some demographic questions which will be required of all fellowship postholders. Finally, they will be allowed to detail any comments that they may have. Further details about the online survey will be sent to you shortly.

Details of the weblink and instructions as to when to complete the online evaluation should be communicated to the fellows during their fellowship. The fellowship organiser should ensure that each fellow completes the online evaluation post at the end of, or shortly after the conclusion of their fellowship post

To cover the costs of the online monitoring process, the College will charge a nominal fee at the end of each year of the Approval. Details of the fee can be found on the Accreditation portal at http://accreditation.rcseng.ac.uk/Home/Fees.

Annual Monitoring Report

At the end of each year following the Approval, the lead trainer or person(s) responsible for the fellowship post will be required to submit a report on the previous twelve months to the College Quality Assurance Department. This annual report should include details of the progress of each postholder; of any assessment undertaken and the outcomes; of any issues with the postholder(s) or the fellowship(s) in general; of any planned amendments to the post; and of any other pertinent information deemed appropriate by the lead trainer.

The logbook of the previous fellow should also be made available to the Royal College of Surgeons of England Quality Assurance Department.

Quality Assurance

At the end of each year following the Approval, the College Quality Assurance Department will submit the feedback from the fellow(s) along with the report from the trainer to the College Quality Assurance Committee. The reports collected during the Approval period will feed into any re-approval application.

Failure to comply with the College’s monitoring processes may result in Approval being withdrawn from the Fellowship post.

*Formerly the National Surgical Fellowship Scheme – the Scheme was renamed in April 2016

Version updated 18.4.16