Marking of submitted Portfolios and extensions due to COVID 19 (23/09/2020)
PORTFOLIO SUBMISSIONS AND RESULTS
September 23rd 2020
PORTFOLIO SUBMISSIONS AND RESULTS
Dear EEATS trainees and supervisors,
Those of you who have attended – or read the minute of – our most recent Supervisors’ meeting may already know that concerns have been raised about the time taken for portfolios to be marked, and about a need for communication when this is delayed.
We do apologise for the situation and want to provide some background –
Portfolio marking is a time-consuming and painstaking business. We are most appreciative of supervisors who undertake this. Each portfolio is double marked, with newer and less confident markers often sharing the marking experience, so that in effect triple marking occurs. In cases of any concern or discrepancy a further marker is invited to independently address this. We have heard that a long wait can be anxiety provoking, so we have agreed to let people know within 8 weeks of submission with either the decision, or an estimate of how long they may have to wait.
We are taking further steps too. Some of our markers agreed that it is helpful rather than otherwise to be given a date (we suggest a month) by which the marking should be complete. Obviously during COVID people were not allowed by Health Boards to undertake work that was not specifically focussed on the crisis, but it is certainly now recognised that training is an essential activity, and this sort of training is particularly helpful in supporting our ED workforce.
We have taken advice from both Supervisor and Trainee groups about putting the submission online, and have finally got enough funds to upgrade our website, in a two-stage process, to allow online submission and marking in the future This should speed things up, though the work has to be commissioned and planned so is unlikely to be running very soon.
Meanwhile, please be aware – and make fellow trainees aware – that when only one copy of your portfolio is supplied, this has to be carefully passed to the first marker and then to the second marker. If you are able to provide Linda with two copies, the double-marking process can occur simultaneously and your result will be ready in half the time.
It was a great pleasure to hold the first ever EEATS online occasion, with an excellent presentation from Dr McKinlay. We were glad to hear of continued training and interest, and we are now offering 4 nursing scholarships to facilitate recovery from the recent lockdown restrictions on training.
Looking forward very much to continuing the work and to anticipating further exciting developments,
Jane Morris, Chair of EEATS
