Transition to the 2021 Curriculum

The curriculum transition seems to fill most trainees with dread. These pages are intended to try and help clear things up a little bit. They have been written by myself, Sara Kendrick, now an ST in Thames Valley.

There are pages relevant to each stage of training, some with more detail than others, as plans are still being finalised for some aspects of training. As well a a brief guide about the LLP changes and a page of FAQs, with a contact box if you still have more questions.

I hope this helps!…

The new curriculum

This has been implemented on the 4th August 2021. It entails both a change to the stages of our current training program, a change in the way trainees are assessed and a change in the named areas we are assessed on.

The full philosophy for the new curriculum can be found at (https://rcoa.ac.uk/training-careers/training-anaesthesia/2021-anaesthetics-curriculum/2021-curriculum-philosophy).

In order to comply with the GMC guidance the areas we are assessed on are 14 domains, divided into 7 ‘generic professional capabilities’ and 7 speciality outcomes.

Transition

The ‘transition’ to the new curriculum is looming over the majority of us. In reality, the majority of trainees will need to evidence what they have already achieved in training to allow sign off on the new curriculum for each domain to the correct level of capability. Importantly at the time of transition, all evidence on the LLP should be downloaded.

structure

Specialty outcomes

There are 7 specialty outcomes, which are clinical capabilities / areas. Each domain has a stage learning outcome, which is a brief explanation of the overall level required for this domain to be completed relevant to that stage of training.

This is then further broken down into key capabilities, which can differ between stages of training and have an associated level of competence expected for that stage of training. Each of these key capabilites have suggestions about what should be used to evidence them.

The principle of progression through the stages is that you will learn to anaesthetise increasingly complex patients, for increasingly complex surgery, with decreasing supervision.

As an example within the HALO ‘general anaesthesia’: the expected learning outcome for a stage 1 trainee is to ‘provide safe and effective general anaesthesia with distant supervision for patients undergoing emergency and elective surgery in a district hospital setting’. However for a stage 2 trainee the expected learning outcome is ‘Provides safe and effective general anaesthesia with distant supervision for ASA 1 - 3 patients undergoing non-complex elective and emergency surgery within all settings’.

An important aspect of the assessment is the change from CUTs (Completion of Unit of Training) to HALOs (Higher Level Outcomes). This requires a shift of approach from a more tick box assessment to a documentation of a learning journey. Please see the section ‘SLEs, Key Capabilities and HALOs for more details, on the LLP page.

STAGE 1 trainees

Click below for information relevant to CT1, CT2, CT3 and ST3 trainees.

STAGE 2 trainees

Click below for information relevant to ST4 and ST5 trainees.

STage 3 trainees

Click here for information relevant to ST6 and ST7 trainees.