Workplace Based Assessments
Up to 2014/2015 Cohort 1



Hi All,
I have done a couple of DOPs and OCEs and I have provided some examples below. This is my laboratory's interpretation of our requirements and so if anything strikes any of you as insufficient or off the mark please let me know!
I did not attend the HSST induction event but my training mentor did and she said that the school acknowedge that this nomenclature is a hangover from the STP training (apparently DOPs stands for something else for us that I forget) and that we will have to adapt the approach to WBAs. It's time consuming to collate evidence but a lot of the assessments are things that many of us will be undertaking anyway so I have been trying to collect the evidence as I go to minimise this work as much as possible. As a result, there have been some DOPs that I have been able to collate evidence from the last 18months prior to starting the HSST as well as the time following the start of the training. The second point is that I have used one folder of evidence for more that one DOP in some instances. For example, I routinely write and first-review oncology reports and have evidence for this as part of our QM competency records for the laboratory; this includes a LIMs search of the reports I have reported/reviewed, hard-copy evidence of the changes made to reports and signed agreement from my line-manager that I have been undertaking this role. It is this evidence that I used for 1G-1 DOPS 1: Interpret a set of test results and write an appropriate report and 1G-1 DOPS 5: Interpretation of chromosome results for either haematological or constitutional samples and use of correct ISCN nomenclature.
Another example is for 1G-3 OCE 3: Critically review and make recommendations for amendments of a SOP: I have collated evidence of meetings with working parties, and the SOP that I produced in the last 6 months in response to a change in policy but as I completed this in real-time with liason with the QM manager she was happy to sign me off for this as she had infact observed it's completion and regularly interacted with me about it's content.
Hope this helps,
Sophie






Hi all,
I have been trying to get as many DOPS done as I can before I got on mat leave on Friday...!
As someone else has mentioned I have also been interpreting DOPS as the re-envisaged format for HSST and outlined at the induction day (didn't go, but saw it from the presentation slides) - Demonstration Of Professional Skills. Which actually makes a lot more sense for us as HSSTs but also with regard to how they are written; many of them cannot be observed and therefore do not make sense as DOPS in the STP sense, as Direct Observation of Practical Skills.
As a few people have said quite a few can quite easily be done using everyday work (i.e. DOPS IG-1: Interpretation of chromosome results for either haematological or constitutional samples and use of correct ISCN nomenclature.) and for some I have used work previous to starting HSST (i.e. DOPS IG-1: Analyse and interpretation of FISH results. To include leukaemias. - as the lab I work in now is purely constitutional.). For these I have just provided a list of cases I have analysed and reported as evidence. Others I have had to liase with other staff in the department to help me out with, for example genetic counsellor (GC) with DOPS IG-4: Pedigree Construction and Analysis and DOPS IG-4: Perform risk calculation i.e. Bayes calculations and H&S lead for DOPS IG-3: Undertake an audit (Health and Safety in Genetics Practice). For these I have written a couple of pages on background info and how I fulfilled the DOPS, i.e role play of GC session for pedigree construction, with scanned in diagrams from the session. The only OCE that I have done is the OCE IG-3 Critically review and make recommendations for amendments of a SOP (although it is under "Health and Safety in Genetics Practice", so this may mean that it should be reviewing a H&S SOP or paying particular attention to an SOP that has an H&S focus?). Looking at the list I'm thinking that I could probably use my GC session role play from my DOPS for OCE IG-4 Take a patient history (can be undertaken in a virtual patient environment). So for both the OCEs I will be using the same evidence as for the associated DOPS.
All of the above has come from my and my trainer's interpretation of the outlines WBAs for HSST, so I have no idea whether what I am doing is satisfactory to the NSHCS! It just feels good to be getting something done and on OLAT before I leave for a yearish on Friday!! Fingers crossed things are a bit clearer when I return next year...
Anyway, hope that the above info on how we have tackled it will help some of you with completing yours! The main issue I have come up against is that HSST trainees can't upload their own evidence onto OLAT as far as I can tell? So this means emailing it to my assessor for them to upload themselves. If someone else has found a way around this please let me know.
Best of luck to you all for the next year of WBAs, MBS work, cross training and FRCPath exams (hope those that sat practical exam were happy with the outcome?!). I will try and keep as up to date as possible with how things are progressing while I am away on maternity leave - I am picking up MBS Unit A1 while still on leave in September - so I will catch up with those of you that deferred then.
Emma
