This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Clinical Procedural Skills component of the MB BS portfolio. This guide is applicable to students in Phases II and III of the programme.
For detailed guidance on the procedural skills curriculum, please consult the Procedural Skills Handbook available from the procedural skills courses on Blackboard. It includes a list of required skills along with their respective deadlines. The handbook also provides clear instructions on completing forms, identifies approved assessors, outlines corrective actions, and offers skill-specific information. It is designed to address all your questions related to procedural skills. If you need further assistance, please contact your local CSF.
The Clinical Procedural Skills component is structured into categories for clarity and ease of use. These categories are as follows:
- Teaching, SIMsafe and One-to-One forms
- Formative forms
- Summative forms
- Revalidation forms (Year’s 4 and 5 only)
We will now look at each of these in more detail:
Clinical Skills Facilitators are responsible for completing the Teaching, SIMsafe, and One-to-One forms. You can see that these forms have a label next to them which indicates they are available to other roles within the system.
This is where you can track your completed Teaching and SIMsafe activities.
All Formative, Summative and Revalidation procedural skills forms will be completed on the app in clinical practice whilst being observed by an appropriate assessor.
Once you have attended the training and successfully completed the SIMsafe assessments, you will be able to undertake formative assessments in clinical practice. The Formative assessments aim to help you develop a skill whilst under the supervision of a qualified assessor. The assessor will give you detailed, descriptive feedback on your performance.
You must not practise SIMsafe skills on patients until you have successfully completed the SIMsafe assessment.
To complete a Formative Assessment:
- Open the appropriate procedural skills form in the app.
- Select the placement site where you are currently undertaking clinical placement and click Confirm placement area.
- Complete the To be completed by the student section. You will need to:
– Enter the ward, department or clinical area where the skill was performed.
– Confirm the SIMsafe declaration where applicable.
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- Once you have completed the student section, hand your device to the assessor so they can observe you performing the skill and complete the assessment.
- After reviewing the assessment requirements, the assessor must select their role from the drop-down list.
Please note: Some skills may require additional information about the procedure being observed. For example, the Administering Oxygen formative assessment requires the assessor to select the delivery device demonstrated.
- Following this, the assessor must complete the remaining sections of the form by:
– Confirming that they observed you performing the skill.
– Indicating whether verbal feedback was provided.
– Recording written feedback on what you did well.
– Recording written feedback on areas for improvement and any recommendations for future practice.
– Signing the form to confirm the assessment.
- To complete the form, the assessor must enter their name and NHS email address.
Please note: Forms submitted with a non-NHS email address may be flagged and could require resubmission.
Forms completed in the app will automatically sync with the online system when your device has an internet connection.
You can only complete a summative assessment once you have completed the required number of formative assessments for that skill. Before undertaking a summative assessment, you should check your Progress View in the online system to ensure you have met the formative requirements and are eligible for summative sign-off.
Please note: The app displays the number of forms you have submitted for each procedural skill. However, you should also regularly check the Progress View in the online system to confirm that your submissions have been reviewed and accepted by the Clinical Procedural Skills Facilitator, and that they count towards your completion requirements.
To complete a Summative Assessment:
- Open the appropriate summative procedural skills form.
- Select the placement site you wish to complete the form for (this will be where you’re currently based on placement). Click Confirm placement area to continue.
- You will need to:
– Indicate the ward, department or clinical area where the skill was performed.
– Confirm the Formative declaration where applicable.
- Once you have completed the student section, hand your device to the assessor so they can observe you performing the skill and complete the assessment.
- After reading the Summative Assessment requirements, the first thing the assessor must select is their role from the drop-down list.
- The assessor also must:
– Confirm they observed you performing the skill.
– Record a Pass or Fail outcome.
– Indicate whether verbal feedback was provided.
– Record written feedback describing what was done well.
– Record written feedback identifying areas for improvement.
– Enter their professional registration number.
– Sign the form.
- To complete the form, the assessor is required to enter their name and NHS email address.
Forms completed in the app will automatically sync with the online system when your device has an internet connection.
In Years 4 and 5 of the MB BS programme, you will be required to complete Revalidation Forms for procedural skills previously undertaken in earlier years. The process for completing Revalidation Forms follows the same workflow as that used for Summative Forms.
To complete a Revalidation form, please refer to the instructions provided above under the Summative Assessment section.
You can monitor your procedural skills progress using the Progress View in the online system. This view provides a clear overview of your completion status and outstanding requirements.
The Progress View allows you to:
- See all procedural skills required for your year of study
- Monitor accepted formative, summative and revalidation assessments
- Identify any outstanding procedural skills requirements before placement deadlines
Please note: Submitting a formative assessment does not automatically mean it has been accepted. You should regularly review the Progress View to ensure your formative assessments have been approved and are counting towards the requirements for that skill.
Procedural Skills Framework
You can access the Progress View by selecting it from the homepage of your portfolio. At the top of the Progress View page, you will see a progress wheel. Each segment of the wheel represents a procedural skill that you are required to complete as part of the Clinical Procedural Skills curriculum.
When you submit a form for a skill, the corresponding segment on the wheel will change colour to indicate activity has been recorded. Once the form has been reviewed by a Clinical Skills Facilitator, they will update the status of the skill to one of the following:
- Skill Requires Attention (red) – one or more forms have been rejected and require action.
- Skill In Progress (yellow) – some requirements have been completed and accepted, but further evidence is required.
- Skill Complete (green) – all required forms have been completed and accepted.
To view the forms associated with each skill, select the Expand All option on the Progress View page. This will display all submitted forms and their current status.
Regularly reviewing this area will allow you to confirm that your formative assessments have been accepted by a Clinical Skills Facilitator and are counting towards your procedural skills requirements. It will also help you identify any forms that require further action before placement deadlines.
Rejected Forms
Clinical Skills Facilitators will reject any procedural skills forms that do not meet the required standards. If a form is rejected, the status of the skill in the Progress View will be updated to ‘Skill Requires Attention’.
When a form is rejected, the Clinical Skills Facilitator will provide comments explaining the reason for the rejection and any action required. This may require resubmitting the form or completing a new assessment.
You should review any skills marked as ‘Skill Requires Attention’ as soon as possible to ensure that outstanding issues are resolved before the relevant placement or programme deadlines.
Viewing comments left on completed forms
If a form on your Progress wheel is marked as Skills requires attention, the Clinical Skills Facilitator will have left a comment on the form explaining the reasoning.
To view the comment, you can hover over the Rejected tag on the marked form. This will display a tool tip with the comment (see below).
