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Core Surgery Application Self-Assessment Questions

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The Core Surgical Training Application Self-Assessment Questions


From 2023 onwards the MSRA will be used to shortlist candidates. The self-assessment, which was used fr shortlisting in previous years, will still play an important role contributing 30% of your overall interview score.

Self-Assessment of achievements for core surgery interview is done in two stages.

The first stage will ask candidates to score themselves at the time of Core Surgical Training application and you will be asked to complete a set of self-assessment questions.
Guidance on how to score your self-assessment can be found in the advert-linked document ‘2023 CST Self-Assessment Guidance for Candidates’
Therefore, it crucial that you complete your self-assessment honestly and accurately at the time of application. It is not possible to change your self-assessment score after you have submitted your application under any circumstances.
Any instances where applicants are found to have deliberately over-scored their self-assessment may be treated as probity concerns. This may lead to being removed from the recruitment process or a referral to the GMC.

The second stage of is the evidence verification stage. Submitted evidence will be reviewed by consultant surgeons and verified against the self-assessment scoring criteria. Where the evidence submitted does not match the self-assessment score awarded, the verified score will be adjusted accordingly.
On completion of the verification process applicants will be sent their verified score together with the verification panel’s feedback explaining any changes to score. Where the applicant disagrees with the verified score awarded, they can lodge an appeal.
If the applicant self-assessment score differs significantly from the assessor score then applicants should expect to be contacted by an assessor as part of a probity process.

For 2024 the self-assessment has been simplified with the Prizes and Academic Achievements and Postgraduate Degree sections removed and publications and presentations consolidated into a single section to condense self-assessment to four domains as outlined below.

The Core Surgical Training Application Self-Assessment Scoring

As part of the Core Surgical Training application you will be asked to complete a set of self-assessment questions.
The tables below outline how many points each achievement can score.
You must provide suitable evidence of all your achievements in order to be awarded points and this evidence must be uploaded to the HEE Evidence Verification Portal.
Beneath each scoring table is a list of examples of evidence you could upload to confirm your score. Please note that the lists of evidence are not exhaustive and are only for illustrative purposes. It is not possible to be prescriptive about what evidence will be acceptable to justify your selection; the key is that it is sufficient for the Consultants reviewing your folder to be confident that you have claimed correctly. A certified, authenticated translation should be provided for any documentation which is not written in English.
There is no set number of years within which you need to have completed the achievements listed, however any achievements claimed must have been gained after commencing your medical (or first undergraduate) degree, i.e. achievements from school or before university cannot be claimed.
If you have more than one achievement within a single domain then you should only claim points for whichever single achievement would give you the highest score.

There is additional guidance below each table to help you decide on the correct self-assessment score

    1. Commitment To Surgery

    Commitment To Surgery

    CST Self-Assessment Commitment To Surgery

    Any evidence provided in this section must not be used to claim points in any other
    domain.

    Additional notes
    A surgical taster must have covered at least 5 days in total though does not need to be undertaken in
    consecutive days. A 5-day surgical taster booked for 2023 will receive 0 points.

    All surgical experience should be evidenced by recording in the UK Pan-Surgical Logbook (eLogbook).
    Recognised surgical placements include Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular Surgery, ENT Surgery,
    Cardiac/Thoracic surgery, ITU, Urology, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, General Surgery, Orthopaedic
    Surgery, Paediatric Surgery. Intended surgical placements will also be acceptable if those placements
    were affected due to COVID redeployment

    Evidence required for confirmation of surgical experience
    1. Consolidation report for each specialty to include
    • The summary sheet of the consolidation report (detailing the number of procedures
    undertaken and the date range the operations undertaken) needs to be
    o signed by a consultant including their
    Full name,
    GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration equivalent)
    The date the consultant validated the summary sheet.

    Please do not provide a copy of your entire logbook. Your personal involvement can include assisting or
    supervised trainer scrubbed procedures though not observed and must not include procedures that all UK
    trainees are expected to have signed off as part of their foundation competencies.
    Only 1 consolidation report upload permitted for each specialty. Any further will not be considered for
    scoring.

    Evidence required for confirmation of surgical conferences
    1. Copy of conference attendance certificate detailing
    1. Name of applicant
    2. Name of conference
    3. Organising body
    4. Date of conference
    5. Where appropriate detailing CPD points

    Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical elective
    1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
    a. The surgical placement and hospital
    b. the dates undertaken,
    c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
    registration equivalent)

    Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical placement
    1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
    a. The surgical placement and hospital
    b. the dates undertaken,
    c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
    registration equivalent)

    Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical taster
    1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
    a. The surgical department and hospital
    b. the dates undertaken
    c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
    registration equivalent)

    Only one document to be uploaded for
    • surgical conference (certificate of attendance for each conference in a single
    document)
    • surgical elective/placement or taster
    Any further documents uploaded will not be considered by assessors.

    2. QIP & Audit

    Quality Improvement

    CST Self-Assessment QIP & Audit
    CST Self-Assessment QIP & Audit 2

    For applicants to score 4 or more points they must have personally been involved in at least 2 cycles of the
    audit or quality improvement project. If your project has only completed a single cycle or you have only
    been involved in one of the cycles, then a maximum of 2 points can be awarded. If your project has not yet
    completed a single cycle no points can be awarded.

    Please choose a scoring option based on a single quality improvement QI project/audit. If you have been
    involved in more than one, you will need to pick the QI project/audit corresponding to the highest-scoring
    statement which is applicable.

    The same Quality Improvement/Clinical Audit may be also put forward in the publications domain if it may
    score in that domain should the applicant wish.

    Evidence Required
    1.Copy of audit project presentation outlining scope and impact (findings and improvements
    achieved) of project

    OR summary of the project detailing scope and impact of the project.

    A copy of the audit presentation must be provided to allow for presentation point scoring.

    AND

    2. A letter from supervising consultant or QI/audit project stating level of involvement to satisfy the
    requirements described in the table above. The letter must be signed (can be digital signature to
    reproduce a physical signature) and include
    a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
    equivalent)
    b. Date

    AND (for presentation points only)

    3. A letter of acceptance from the meeting where presented confirming
    a. project title
    b. presenting author
    c. date
    A copy of the meeting

    3. Presentations & Publications

    Presentations & Publications

    CST Self-Assessment Presentations & Publications
    CST Self-Assessment Presentations & Publications

    Oral presentations referred to are with or without slides, in front of an audience of healthcare professionals.
    These can be of anything related to medicine, typically a case or case series, research or other topic. It
    would normally be expected to include a question-and-answer session.

    Poster presentations referred to are given with one poster or poster slide and sometimes a very short oral
    explanation with or without a question-and-answer session. If a poster is shown without an accompanying
    oral presentation, you can still claim points in line with the relevant statement.

    All presentations require personal or virtual attendance – acceptance of a poster without attending is
    detailed above.

    In situations where you are solely presenting or showing your poster because you have paid a fee you may
    only select the “none/other” option.
    A medical meeting will typically be to an audience of doctors and/or other healthcare professionals
    attending away from their normal place of work for which attendees will be undertaking continuing
    professional development. The exception to this is the option for a local meeting where the audience is
    predominantly internal to that workplace. Please the appendix for definitions of local, regional, national and
    international meetings.

    For any publication in print to be considered for points allocation they MUST be PubMed (PUBMED
    ID must be provided) cited to demonstrate that it is peer reviewed and relevant to medicine. Any
    candidate submitting without a PubMed searchable ID will score 0 points. Any candidate claiming a
    PubMed ID for an article which does not have this will potentially raise a probity concern with the
    interview panel.


    Publications are accepted for points allocation if they have been accepted by a PUBMED catalogued
    journal (in press) provided acceptance for publication without amendments is provided and evidence of the
    PubMed status of the journal is also provided.

    Cited collaborative authors must have publication in print, NOT in press.

    Chapters written in medical books will not require pub med citing but rather the ISBN for the book is
    required as detailed below.

    You must not in any circumstances claim an oral or poster presentation in this section if you have used the
    same quality improvement project/audit to claim points in the QI/audit section (Presentation points). Any
    points claimed for oral or poster presentations in this section must be completely different projects to any QI
    or audit work used to claim points in any other section.

    Evidence Required

    For all oral and poster presentations
    1. Copy of oral presentation slides/poster presentation to include
    a. Title of presentation
    b. Name of first author/presenter or author list to include applicant if not first author
    In situations where you are solely presenting or showing your poster because you have paid a fee you may only select the “none/other” option.

    You cannot, in any circumstances, claim an oral or poster presentation in this section if you have used the same quality improvement project/audit to claim points in the QI/audit section. Any points claimed for oral or poster presentations in this section must be completely different projects to any QI or audit work used to claim points in any other section.
    For example, if you have carried out an audit on catheter use and used it to claim points in the presentations section then you cannot use a quality improvement poster presentation regarding catheter use to claim points in the QI/audit (or any other) section.

    AND

    2. Copy of letter of acceptance of oral/poster presentation or copy of event programme citing
    presentation to include
    a. Name of presenter OR first author
    b. Institution convening meeting
    c. Date of meeting/presentation

    AND

    3. Certificate of attendance at event
    If claiming for a prize, the following is also required

    1. Copy of prize certificate or signed letter from the institution conferring the prize

    For regional or local meetings, a letter from an educational supervisor with the above information is
    acceptable

    For all published articles or cases/letters as first author or co-author
    1. A copy of the article (in pdf format or scanned) including PubMed ID

    AND

    2. Letter of acceptance for publication from accepting PubMed catalogued journal to include
    a. Name of applicant as First author or co-author (clearly stating co-authorship)
    b. Confirmation of acceptance for publication without alteration
    c. Name of accepting journal
    d. Date of acceptance
    e. Title of article

    For Articles in Press
    1. Letter of acceptance for publication from accepting PubMed catalogued journal to include
    f. Name of applicant as First author or co-author (clearly stating co-authorship)
    g. Confirmation of acceptance for publication without alteration
    h. Name of accepting journal
    i. Date of acceptance
    j. Title of article
    k. Statement confirming that the journal is PubMed cited

    For Book Chapter
    1. Front and back cover of book to include
    a. Title of book
    b. Publishing house
    c. ISBN number

    AND

    2. Contents page showing chapter and applicant as author

    For Cited Collaborative author

    1. Copy of published article to include
    a. Title of article
    b. Name of Journal
    c. PubMED ID
    d. Article page where collaborative authors are cited

    4a. Teaching Exp

    Teaching Experience

    CST Self-Assessment Teaching

    N.B Evidence of formal feedback is required for all teaching experience

    Formal feedback describes either
    1. Evidence of senior observation/feedback (e.g. observation of teaching assessment, developing the
    clinical teacher form, etc.)

    OR

    2. Collection and analysis of participants' feedback forms. Feedback forms include scores and number
    of people involved in providing the feedback.
    Formal feedback does not need to be submitted as evidence but must be reviewed by Consultant.

    Evidence Required
    1. Letter from Consultant confirming involvement in designing and organizing teaching
    programme. The letter must be signed (can be electronic signature) and include
    a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
    equivalent)
    b. Dates of activity

    AND/OR

    2. Letter from Consultant confirming involvement in delivering teaching and that participant
    formal feedback has been reviewed as acceptable. The letter must be signed (can be electronic
    signature) and include
    a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
    equivalent)
    b. Dates of activity
    For additional guidance local would be deemed as delivery of teaching within a single department
    or single hospital site.

    Regional would be deemed delivery of teaching across two or more hospital sites/ Trusts or a
    foundation school or regional association.

    4b. Training Qualifications

    Training Qualifications

    CST Self-Assessment Teaching

    All postgraduate degrees and qualifications will be defined based on the International Standard
    Classification of Education (ISCED) (UN International Family of Economic and Social Classifications)
    http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-isced-
    2011-en.pdf

    Substantial training is defined as formal training either face to face or virtual that should be of at least 2 full
    days in duration. Formal training is typically delivered in an organized and structured context provided in
    educational institutions such as universities and royal colleges.

    Evidence Required
    1. Copy of Degree/Postgraduate qualification Certificate to include
    a. Applicant name
    b. Awarding institution
    c. Date of award

    OR

    2. Copy of certificate confirming attendance at substantial training in teaching methods to include
    a. Applicant name
    b. Awarding institution
    c. Date of award

    OR

    3. Copy of certificate confirming attendance in teaching methods to include
    a. Applicant name
    b. Awarding institution
    c. Date of award

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