JRSM > Volume 94, Number 7 > Pp. 366-367

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Medical Appraisal, Selection and Revalidation: a Professional's Guide to Good Practice

Laurie Montgomery Irvine

Clementine Churchill Hospital, Harrow HA1 3RX, UK

John Gatrell, Tony White
63 pp Price £12.95 ISBN 1-85315-400-8 (p/b) London: RSM Press, 2001

Appraisal and revalidation will soon be part of everyday life for British doctors, but some remain unsure of what is involved, and feel threatened. Extraction of relevant facts from the numerous published sources (often jargon-ridden) can be difficult and time-consuming.

For Calman trainees there are three appraisals during each post, with a yearly in-training assessment. Failure can mean retaking the year or removal from the training programme. For those who have completed training, a revalidation folder is part of the yearly appraisal. At the end of the five-year cycle the completed folder is submitted to the revalidation group. Poor performance could lead to removal from the Medical Register.

Since appraisal and part of revalidation depend on an interview, Gatrell and White begin their book with interviewing skills—including not only the use of open, closed and probing questions but also non-verbal communication. There are useful tips here for both interviewer and interviewee. They then go on to appraisal of various grades of doctor, with a section on the folder and the structure of revalidation groups. Clearly, the collection of information required for these processes will be complex and time-consuming; questions of funding for data collection and who will be responsible have yet to be fully addressed. The final chapter deals with the selection process. The pros and cons of application by curriculum vitae or special forms are discussed, and there is a section on how to short-list without bias (with examples of a scoring profile); another deals with the sorts of interview panels needed for different grades of doctor and the uncomfortable task of feedback to unsuccessful candidates.

Although not all the flow diagrams are easy to follow (or even necessary), in general the book is clear and well set out. Each chapter concludes with a summary of key points and there are references for further reading. Doctors in all specialties, on whatever side of the interview table, will find this concise book a useful source of information.

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Send a Quick Comment Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Quick Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Irvine, L. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                      What's this?