title: Towards a Formative Assessment of Classroom Competencies (FACCs) for postgraduate medical trainees.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An assumption of clinical competency is no longer acceptable or feasible in routine clinical practice. We sought to determine the feasibility, practicability and efficacy of undertaking a formal assessment of clinical competency for all postgraduate medical trainees in a large NHS foundation trust.
  
  
  METHODS
  FY1 doctors were asked to complete a questionnaire to determine prior experience and self reported confidence in performing the GMC core competencies. From this a consensus panel of key partners considered and developed an 8 station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) circuit to assess clinical competencies in all training grade medical staff... The OSCE was then administered to all training grade doctors as part of their NHS trust induction process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  106 (87.6% of all trainees) participated in the assessment during the first 14 days of appointment. Candidates achieved high median raw percentage scores for the majority of stations however analysis of pre defined critical errors and omissions identified important areas for concern. Performance of newly qualified FY1 doctor was significantly better than other grades for the arterial blood gas estimation and nasogastric tube insertion stations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Delivering a formal classroom assessment of clinical competencies to all trainees as part of the induction process was both feasible and useful. The assessment identified areas of concern for future training and also served to reassure as to the proficiency of trainees in undertaking the majority of core competencies.
authors.affiliation: The Education Centre, City Hospitals Sunderland Foundation Trust, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK. chris.gray@chs.northy.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hildreth
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boobis
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards*; D013222:State Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom