I recently came across this website whilst googling for some random things. At first, I thought it was a joke but then realised that this is a well known website, publicised by mention in the Daily Telegraph. It has been started by the guy behind doctors.net. In some ways, it is similar to the NHS Choices website

gp registrar learning resourcesdoctor review by patients

Just when you thought the ePortfolio could take the backstage(after finishing training) , it has reared it's head in the disguise of revalidation and annual appraisal. I personally have nothing against the eportfolio. Infact, it has guided my learning over the past 2 years and after using it for 2 years, I feel I have a hang of it. After initial scepticism, most of us have gotten used to it and use it on an average of twice a week. It has not always been an enjoyable experience. Filling all boxes didactically has been boring at the best of times. Many times, I have learnt something, tried to enter it on my eportfoilo but have felt that I do not need to enter all the boxes. Unfortunately, they have to be filled in order to show "reflective learning". I am sorry but not all my learnings are reflective. Most are but some are straight forward old fashioned reading an article, learning something and hoping to recollect it when faced with the situation the next time.

What did you learn, what will you do differently in the future, what further learning needs did you identify, How and when will you address these? Sometimes this takes away the joy of learning and makes the ePortfolio a laborious task. I am sure there are many trainees who will agree with me on these.

Now with Revalidation around the corner, we will have a new ePortofolio in the next 12 months and we will be back to using the logs. Guess we have an advantage over our seniors in that we have already been initiated.

Going by the RCGP guide to revalidation for GPs ( version 1.0, April 2009), the first year (2009-2010) should not be a lot different from the present annual appraisals. Second year onwards, there needs to be clear evidence of having collected 50 accredited points.


Going through my eportfolio, I find that I have earned 50 credits in 5 months...so rejoice trainees, we are a step ahead of our peers!

gp registrar learning resourcesrevalidation

Time Management..hmmmm....something I never thought of while I worked at the hospital. We had handover sheets and jobs to do. What was left was passed on to the next team, etc. As junior doctors, we did not really have secretaries, except for typing discharge and clinic letters.

Fast forward to the present...GP Registrar....making referrals on time, signing post in, signing scripts in time, buddying another doctor and taking care of their path results and paperwork, keeping on top of my own path results, logging entries on my learning log in eportfolio, making sure I do enough OOH now so that it is not too late next year, revising for exams, etc., etc.....the list goes on! The enormity and importance of this occured to me when I was reminded by a partner in my surgery about a referral for 24 hr ECG I had forgotten to make -( Damn !!!! Surely, it will get worse as we take on more responsibility (10 min appointments, salaried GP or if lucky, a partner).

I am meeting my trainer this week to find out how he keeps on top of these things and see if I can get some sense of control over things before they get out of hand. Am I the only one facing this impending crises?

This is an interesting website. I often find myself wondering how to interpret an abnormal result. Which one can I not worry about and which one needs further testing? This website, developed in collaboration with the Journal of Pathology has same useful info though not all tests are covered. Check it out here

Some people are not happy at this, but to me it sounds like a good plan...we would be spared the burden of innumerable referals to physios.

There is no much coverage of so called "new breakthrough research" in media and invariably patients ask us about these. This is the NHS' view of these headlines. Find it here

Most practices are signed up to this. Wondering what this is? Basically, it provides guidance on looking after palliative care patients (incl renal failure, heart failure and COPD). I think it is a decent resource and would recommending visiting their website atleast once. The link is here