Stage 1

Support starts first at a local level, and can be initiated by anyone who becomes aware that a trainee is experiencing difficulties, including the trainee themself.

Early intervention is key at this stage, along with transparent communication and regular performance feedback from you, the supervisor, to the trainee.

The College has developed the Improving Performance Action Plan (IPAP), which you can work through with your trainee, in order to set agreed learning actions and expected outcomes. Support through the IPAP is usually offered for up to six months, depending on the nature of the difficulties and progress made.

The College is not notified at this stage. If, over the designated period of time (usually six months), your trainee achieves their learning objectives and returns to meeting the expected levels of performance for training, they can return to the standard training pathway and requirements. There is no need to advise the College, or future supervisors that the trainee has been on the pathway.

The Training Support Unit at the College is on hand for advice throughout this process.

Stage 2

If the trainee's difficulties are not resolved at the end of this period of local support, you will need to notify the College, using the supervisor assessment report at the end of the training period.

The Training Support Unit at the College will then get in touch to arrange additional support.

During Stage 2 Training Support, the trainee will need to submit an IPAP, and three-monthly reports to the Training Support Unit, so they can assist the relevant training committee to monitor their performance.

Stage 3

At the completion of Stage 2 Support, the relevant training committee will assess all the submitted information and either decide to continue monitoring the trainee's performance with another period of Stage 2 support, or, if there are still significant difficulties, then Stage 3, a Comprehensive Review of Training (CRT), is implemented. There are two possible outcomes of this:

• Involuntary discontinuation of training

OR

• Training continues with conditions – if the conditions are subsequently not met then training will be involuntarily discontinued without conducting another CRT.

Trainee Support documents

Advanced trainee in difficulty (Supervisors)

Basic trainee in difficulty (Directors of Physician Education)

Training Support: Helping trainees get back on track (eLearning resource)

College Trainees in Difficulty Policy and Support Pathway

Training Support Process Document

Training Support Pathway Diagram

Professional Development for Supervisors

Supervisor Professional Development Program (SPDP)

At the College we recognise that supervision is key to the learning of our future physicians. It is vital that supervisors have access to professional development opportunities to support them in their roles as teachers and assessors. The College developed the Supervisor professional development program to meet this need.

Other Resources for Supervisors

Access other resources to enhance teaching and supervision skills.