Collaborative Healer Assessment Tool - CHAT

Well, after the GPET conference and a couple of registrar workshops, I can get back to sending another Tip. This is the fourth issue of Tips on TREAT. I hope you are finding these e-mails helpful or useful. As you may remember, TREAT, is the Wentwest Trainer-Registrar Education Assessment Toolkit, which can be found here: www.wentwest.com/treat

Changes
Tips on TREAT is going to change format for those of you in the Wentwest area. We are going to start producing a newsletter called the Training Tabloid, and Tips on TREAT will become a regular feature in this, together with other information for supervisors about workshops and news. This will be monthly not weekly, so Tips on TREAT will come out less regularly. From some feedback I’ve had, this will allow you more time to have a look around at the tools between each Tip.

For those of you outside our region, I’ll carry on sending the e-mails, and I’ll still archive them on the blogspot http://www.tipsontreat.blogspot.com/, where you can still find previous Tips.

CHAT – the Collaborative Healer Assessment Tool
This week’s tool is the CHAT, because for those of you in the Wentwest area, it’s coming up to time to have your first CHAT session with your registrar. The tool can be found here: http://www.wentwest.com/treat/index_files/Page1741.htm. (You’ll also have 2 more CHAT sessions later in this term)

The CHAT is a way of providing systematic feedback to a registrar across all the domains. It will help the registrar provide feedback to you about the learning experience in the practice as well.

You’ll see there are 2 sets of forms, and again, it looks slightly forbidding, but is actually quite simple. There are 2 stages to having a CHAT.
The supervisor and registrar separately fill in their forms about the registrar performance and the learning in the practice. This should be given time before having the CHAT session, perhaps 1 week, perhaps 1 day.
The supervisor and registrar get together to talk about what they put. This, for obvious reasons, is called having a CHAT! They reach consensus about how well the registrar (and supervisor) is doing and make plans as to how to continue and what to concentrate on.

It is hoped that CHAT will promote these desirable attributes:
· Reflection on one’s own performance
· Giving and receiving feedback constructively
· Being assessed across all 5 domains of the curriculum
· Being able to give evidence for the opinions each has.

Coming up is the most important sentence in this message:

The most important thing about this tool is the CONVERSATION it promotes.

Please re-read that sentence now.

It doesn’t really matter very much about how comfortable or uncomfortable you are filling in particular parts (eg about ability to pass the exam). However, if both sides make a genuine attempt to complete the forms, it is almost impossible not to have a conversation stimulated, especially about areas of difference.

Remember, this tool is for formative assessment, which means to provide feedback about performance in order to improve it. This works best in a safe atmosphere of mutual trust between registrar and supervisor. Therefore, Wentwest does not desire or wish to know about the content or result of a discussion, just the fact that it has happened, and there is a fax back form to let us know this. I’ve also included a feedback/evaluation form for us to improve the process, so please keep those coming in.

There are detailed instructions with the form, and also on the website.

That’s all for this week. Do feel free to e-mail feedback about the tool or the website, or any suggestions or questions, or if you’d rather not receive the e-mails.