• ED, Hull Royal Infirmary, Hull, United Kingdom.
• Emerg Med J. 2013 Oct 1;30(10):873.

Objectives & BackgroundFormative assessments support learning. Ideally then, such trainee/ trainer interaction would occur throughout the training year and include cases that are stretching. In this way areas for trainee development could be identified and a training plan refined and executed. Such an approach would give time to revisit themes with further assessments towards the end of the year.MethodsThe CEM e-portfolio was interrogated and anonymised data retrieved. Records for 'Formative mini-cex' were collated for 3rd August 2011 to 4th August 2012. The date and outcome were recorded for each assessmentResults2022 'Formative mini-cex' records were found. Of these, 94 (5%) were completed in the first 2 months, and 787 (39%) in the 2 months prior to ARCP. The monthly completion of these assessments was August 24 (1.4%), September 70 (3.5%), October 119 (6%), November 128 (6.3%), December 103 (5%), January 245 (12%), February 118 (6%), March 135 (6.7%), April 181 (8.9%), May 343 (17%), June 444 (22%), July 101 (5%). Each episode included an opportunity to evaluate eight domains of practice. 85% of evaluations across all domains were of excellent practice. 14% of evaluations included recommendations that the trainee 'should consider…' and 1% that the trainee 'must consider…'. Written narrative feedback was recorded in 1874 (93%) of assessments. 1346 (67%) were assessed by consultants, 177 (9%) by SAS doctors and 495 (25%) by ST4-6 trainees.ConclusionThere is a high rate of excellence recorded is assessments, and around half of assessments are performed at the end of the academic year. There were more assessments performed in the month of ARCP (June) than in the first 5 months of the academic year. Future iterations of the assessment schedule will include means of ensuring trainee/trainer interaction is scheduled throughout the year and includes a case mix that stretches the trainee with trainer support.

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