Performance in practice; exploring trainer and trainee experiences of user-designed formative assessment tools

General Practice training in Ireland currently has various methods of formative assessment and feedback delivered to trainees. In 2018 the Irish College of General Practitioners commissioned the generation of two new user-designed formative feedback tools that would allow trainee feedback to drive learning. These tools became known as the Performance in Practice (PiP) tools.

To explore the experiences of General Practice (GP) trainers and trainees having completed a pilot of using the PiP tools for 4 months.

An explorative phenomenological approach was taken to understand the experiences of trainers and trainees. One to one interviews were conducted, and the transcripts analysed for themes and sub-theme via Template analysis.

User experiences focused on two main areas; educational value and acceptability. In relation to educational value, the PiP tools were seen as an improvement over established forms of formative feedback, as they were centred around the curriculum and therefore reflected the unique multifaceted requirements of an independently practising GP. Acceptability primarily focused around data governance and structures, as well as practical issues such as ease of software use.

Overall, the experience of using the PiP tools was positive for both trainers and trainees. Future plans to further explore implementation of the PiP tools have been significantly informed by this research.