Useful Information

Welcome to the training programme in Gastroenterology and General (Internal) Medicine. We hope you will enjoy the challenges involved. You will receive an induction into your initial post and be assigned an educational supervisor.  We will also arrange for you to have a face to face induction with the TPD and SPC (Date to be confirmed).

There are a number of things you also need to do in relation to your training:

1. Register with the JRCPTB.   Here are some tips on creating and maintaining your Eportfolio.
2. Familiarise yourself the Gastroenterology curriculum, Decision Aid which can be found by following this link
3. It is also useful to familiarise yourself with this ARCP checklist which you will be required to complete prior to your ARCP and upload to your personal library.
4. Learn about the annual ARCP assessment process, and undertake the necessary workplace-based assessments for this. The ARCP panels meet every June, and you will be invited for a face-to-face discussion regarding your outcome and training with the TPD and SPC.
5. Register with JAG for endoscopy training and JETS to create your endoscopy eportfolio. We recommend reading our guide to endoscopy training which contains some useful training links.
6. Discuss with your educational supervisor the appropriate use and outcomes from your protected sessions for research/audit/specialist training. You may find that writing a personal development plan helps focus your discussions.
7. Plan your study leave. There are a number of required course for you to attend over the duration of your training, in addition to the regional teaching days.  
8. Every December we encourage you to attend our Joint Trainer and Trainee Day
9. It is a requirement for all trainees to Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE). This should normally be taken in years 1-3 ie ST3-5 and you must have made one attempt by the time of your PYA.
10. Start thinking early on about the areas that interest you most. Consider whether you are interested in research or perhaps enhancing your skills in advanced endoscopy, teaching or developing a subspecialty interest. The additional posts section may give you some ideas.  Remember that Gastroenterology Out of Programme Experience (whether research or training) needs to be planned well in advance – from grant applications to giving notice to the programme director it all tends to take longer to organize than you might think!
11. Approximately 12-18 months before the end of training, trainees will have a Penultimate Year Assessment (PYA) in both Gastroenterology and General (Internal) Medicine. That’s 18 months training time, so part time trainees and those taking time out of programme within their last two years need to be aware of their own time line. See Preparing for your PYA section.