Career progression – use of the trainee logbook

As senior house officer trainees approach the end of their training and prepare to apply for higher specialist training, they become more concerned with the ‘publications’ section on the job application forms for specialist registrars. By then they have either already published something in a journal or are desperately trying to do so. Recently, with the increased competition for higher specialist training posts, it has become an unwritten rule that one is unlikely to get short listed if the ‘ publications’ section is left blank. The consensus is that trainees at senior house officer level are competing in terms of how many published letters or articles they have written/co-written.

We do not question the value of published work in the selection process, nor do we doubt its relevance to career progression. However, we wonder if the field of vision has become unhelpfully narrow. We wonder whether, in parallel with the ongoing changes in the training of psychiatrists, the assessment of suitability for career progression should shift from cross-sectional to longitudinal assessments of trainees’ performance. An excellent tool for assessment, which trainers and trainees have long used, is the College's trainee's logbook (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/PDF/LogBook.pdf). It includes almost all that is essential for a comprehensive evaluation of a trainee. The two sections of training goals and supervisors’ feedback are particularly useful for acquiring an overall view of career development.

Psychiatric training in the UK is constantly evolving. In August 2007, the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board will supersede the Specialist Training Authority and the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice. It is hoped that the selection of trainees for higher specialist training will involve a more-balanced structured assessment rather than a tick-box format. However, the assimilation of the current trainees into the new system is yet to be clarified. Advertising for specialist registrar posts will cease after August 2007. Guidelines for their point of entry into the new training scheme are not very specific. One worry is that the unfortunate ones will be forced to settle for non-training career grade posts. A way of allaying such anxiety about job prospects in higher training is to allow the use of relevant documentation compiled by trainees throughout their training. The logbook is a very useful tool for writing and updating CVs and for the purpose of interviews. We believe it has greater potential as a genuine record of experience and a reflection of the aptitude and suitability of a trainee for a job.