UKFPO Bulletin: 13th January 2021

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UKFP2021 SJT

As our UKFP2021 applicants are considered essential workers, Pearson VUE test centres in the UK will be open for SJT sittings 18-23 January as planned. Test centres in most other countries will also be open for UKFP applicants – any changes to this will be communicated individually.

National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day Virtual Conference – Friday 15 January 2021

The National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day is taking place this Friday. The programme is on our event page.

Thank you to those who submitted abstracts. We had a fantastic response – successful applicants have been contacted individually.

If you would like to attend as a General Delegate, please register here.

Please direct any queries to sevfoundation.sw@hee.nhs.uk.

ARCP Q&A Webinar – Wednesday 16th December 2020

HEE ARCP Q&A webinar recording – information useful for all UK foundation doctors. Updated ARCP requirements can be found on the UKFPO ARCP web page, and here is a useful animation guide to ARCPs.  

Psychiatry Foundation Fellowships (PFF) for UKFP2021

UKFP2021 applicants are invited to apply for the Psychiatry Foundation Fellowship (PFF). The application window for PFF is now open until 31st January 2021. This is an opportunity to improve exposure to the specialty and make use of access to a wide variety of educational resources relevant to Psychiatry. For example, funded attendance at relevant conferences and on-line learning and psychiatry journals. Trainees will also have access to psychiatric supervision and be able to attend reflective Balint groups. All information on PFF, including an updated programmes list, can be found here

UKFPO/NACT Foundation Programme Sharing Best Practice Event – 24 March 2021

This meeting is to encourage both faculty and foundation doctors to share their educational best practice and has been held annually for a number of years. If possible it will be a face-to-face event in Birmingham, UK; however, arrangements are being made to run it as a hybrid or virtual event if required.

The abstract submission deadline has now passed. Registration is open. Details on the NACT website.

SCRIPT e-learning for safer prescribing

Created in 2010, the SCRIPT e-learning programme was developed by the University of Birmingham and OCB Media and commissioned by Health Education England. The e-learning is designed to encourage safe and effective prescribing and optimal medicines management among healthcare professionals. 

How effective is e-learning? 

The European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) Working Group on education recently conducted a review to identify and assess the effects of digital learning on learner-related and clinically relevant outcomes.  

They concluded that “e-learning is the most-used type of digital learning for safe and effective prescribing education and is efficacious in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate prescribers the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes“.

About the SCRIPT Medicine and Surgery portfolio for foundation trainee doctors

The SCRIPT Medicine and Surgery e-learning portfolio for foundation trainee doctors is a collection of 49 modules, delivered through a dedicated learning platform, that have been specifically designed to help improve the prescribing competency and safety of foundation doctors.  The portfolio is freely available to all foundation schools in England. 

A module usually takes approximately one hour to complete but does not have to be completed in one sitting. Content has been authored by a team of expert healthcare professionals and is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. 

How do I access the programme?

Anyone with a @nhs.net or @nhs.uk e-mail address can access SCRIPT Medicine and Surgery for free.

Where can I get support with the SCRIPT e-learning programme?

In addition to individual access, all foundation schools are provided with a dedicated instance of SCRIPT specific to their region, including a full trainee reporting and monitoring tool. If you represent a foundation school and would like further information on this, please email Nicholas Blackwell to discuss it further. 

If you are new to e-learning, or have a question about the e-learning modules, Nicholas Blackwell will be running a virtual live demo from 10am to 11am on Tuesday 16 February 2021.

During the session you will:

  • Have a tour of the SCRIPT user experience
  • Run through a summary of the different SCRIPT variants
  • View some example SCRIPT module content
  • Take a look at the trainee data analytics, management and reporting tool

The virtual demos will be conducted over Microsoft Teams and joining instructions are available by contacting Nicholas.

Events, Information and Opportunities from External Partners

3rd annual Core Surgical Training Interview Course (King’s College London)

Following the rigorous shortlisting process, we expect the competition for Core Surgical Training posts to be higher than ever. Due to this and the high demand, we will be hosting our final Core Surgical Training Interview Course on Saturday 13th February. This course will be held online for the safety of our candidates and examiners and keeping to how the actual interview will be as per LaKSS. 

We will hold our famous lectures in the morning. These consist of frameworks and techniques on how to succeed in the Core Surgical Training Interview. This is followed by our famous mock interview circuit. The examiners are the highest scoring current Core Surgical Trainees and will provide personal and critical feedback. Each candidate will have the opportunity to have 2 interviews and observe 2 interviews. 

The lectures are also available on our online resources alongside practice scenarios, key topics and useful blueprints for interview questions. We also have a limited number of one-on-one coaching spaces for candidates that are keen to further develop their skills. Please find the leaflet here and visit our website for further details www.cstinterview.co.uk.

New Foundation Feed

You are invited to join the new Foundation Feed, which streamlines posts from the UKFPO, HEE and other stakeholder’s social media accounts to ensure Foundation doctors are kept up to date.

Free educational online resources

The Virtual College has a page of free educational online courses across a variety of topics, including infection prevention, safeguarding and mental health.