At the recent RITA interviews I made it clear that I expect all trainees to keep a personal training plan. This is similar to the personal development plan that is required to be kept by consultants as part of their appraisal process. It is therefore an important step in your preparation to becoming a consultant but also serves to focus your mind on what you wish to achieve out of a particular attachment. At the foot of this page I have put links to two files, one a blank template and one sample one with a few sections filled in to give you some idea of how this should be filled out.
Here are some notes that I hope will guide you in using this important record of your training.
The goals & objectives should be set in your appraisal interview with your trainer and should take account of the potential opportunities.
The goals should be as specific as you can possibly make them. For example don't just state the goal as "to be able to do a THR" but state it as " to be able to do a THR with no supervision on an uncomplicated case in a thin fit person".
Criteria for judging whether or not a goal has been achieved have to be defined and agreed beforehand.
Use the headings (domains of training) to think more widely about your training and don't just focus on your operative skills.
Don't go overboard and fill out every heading. Better to achieve all of a few well set goals than to miss 90% of widely framed goals.
The plan should be reviewed in your final appraisal interview and all achieved goals signed off by your trainer.
The plan should be kept as part of your portfolio and reviewed and updated regularly. It will be reviewed as part of the RITA process.
To download the relevant files right click the link and choose save target as from the list. Clicking the link will only open the document in your browser if you have MS Word on your machine.