Assessment Strategy for 2021 Anaesthetics Curriculum

The ARCP is the formal process where training progress is reviewed, usually on an annual basis. This process should be used to collate and systematically review evidence about an anaesthetist in training’s performance and progress in a holistic way and make decisions about their achievement of expected outcomes and subsequent progression in training.

Throughout training, anaesthetists should engage with the learning process by using the LLp to demonstrate that they are meeting the requirements of the curriculum.

The evidence collected on the LLp includes:

• placements in programme
• examination outcomes
• milestones such as training certificates
• personal development plans
• logbook data
• evidence of supervisory meetings
• supervised learning events and other evidence for HALOs
• MSFs
• MTRs
• evidence of reflection.

This evidence should form the basis of the ESSR that is reviewed at the ARCP and considered when awarding an ARCP outcome. A satisfactory outcome at the ARCP is required in order to progress through the training programme. The ARCP process is described in the ‘Gold Guide’ and the Deaneries are responsible for organising and conducting ARCPs. The evidence to be reviewed by ARCP panels should be collected in the trainee’s LLp.

The decisions made at critical progression points and upon completion of training should be clear and defensible. They must be fair and robust and make use of evidence from a range of assessments, potentially including examinations and observations in practice or reflection on behaviour by those who have appropriate expertise or experience.

Assessment of attainment of the learning outcomes involves looking across a range of different skills and behaviours to make global decisions about an anaesthetist’s suitability to progress in training. The domains of learning grids in section 5.10 of the 2020 Curriculum for a CCT in Anaesthetics set out the high-level description of attainment to be achieved for each domain at the end of each stage of training in order to progress to the next.

As a precursor to ARCPs, the RCoA strongly recommend that anaesthetists in training have an informal LLp review either with their educational supervisor or arranged by the local school of anaesthesia. These provide opportunities for early detection of anaesthetists whose evidence of training progress may not be sufficient to attain a satisfactory outcome in their ARCP.

In order to guide the anaesthetists in training, their supervisors and the ARCP panel, the RCoA has produced ARCP guidance that sets out the requirements for a satisfactory ARCP outcome at the end of each stage of training and critical progression point. The ARCP decision aid is available on the RCoA website.

Figure 6 – minimum annual requirements for satisfactory ARCP