EFFECTIVE HANDOVER

PORTFOLIOS AND CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• BMJ Portfolio – useful for doctors who are not in training posts to develop an online log of reflections on clinical practice and learning. By adjusting the settings, you can tag every entry with one of the GMC Good Medical Practice Domains. We have prepared some additional tips on what should be in a portfolio for our REACHE North West members: see here. The University of Nottingham has some information on reflective writing.
• BMJ Learning and Medscape continuing professional development (CPD) resources for learning modules. Note: Medscape is an American resource but still useful (and also free).
• GMC Good Medical Practice – essential reading for every doctor and a resource to keep referring back to! Remember you have signed up to follow this code with your GMC registration. Look particularly at the 29 April 2014 update to the guidance that includes a section about knowledge of the English language. You will find guidance and statements contained within GMC Good Medical Practice that help guide you in challenging situations, including ethical dilemmas and and practising in a different cultural setting. Good Medical Practice in Action is a collection of interactive case studies: these can be a good learning resource and material for reflection and so don’t forget to add a reflective entry to your portfolio after you complete each case.
• Medical defence and indemnity information

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• Calgary Cambridge Guide to the Medical Interview on the Bradford VTS website.See in particular the “basic framework”, the “disease-illness model” and the “quick reference guide”
• Maguire P, Pitceathly C. Key communication skills and how to acquire them. BMJ 2002;325:697-700
• BMJ article available on the BMJ website and as a free PubMed Central resource.
• Shared Decision Making – working in partnership with your patient includes identifying the patient’s ideas, concerns and expections (ICE) and the effect of the illness on the patient and then using this to enter a meaningful discussion with the patient to decide on a course of action. Shared Decision Making training, resources and tools can help you apply these principles to your interactions with each patient.
• The SPIKES model for breaking bad news – apply the same skills of active listening and principles of understanding the patient’s ICE with this tool adapted to the situation of breaking bad news. Here is a link to the original paper and this video helps explain it further:
• The Australian website Doctors Speak Up has some well-presented resources for professionals from non-English speaking backgrounds. We have a document about the usage of certain modal verbs in English that you may also find useful: English Modal Verbs Table.