E-portfolio user guide for veterinary graduates

Before you start

Before you log in to your e-portfolio, please make sure you have gone though the check list on our information for graduates and students page.

Logging in

The VetGDP e-portfolio is available as a web version that can be accessed from a computer or mobile phone. You will log in through your 1CPD account and then click the gold VetGDP button. Your log in details are the same as for your RCVS My account.

The first time you login

When you login to VetGDP for the first time you will need to pick the name of your practice/workplace and then your VetGDP Adviser from a drop-down menu. If you cannot find your Adviser on the list, please check your MyAccount to make sure that your practice relationships are correct. You may need to ask your VetGDP Adviser to check that they have completed their Adviser declaration in their My Account and that the practice has made their declaration in the practice My Account.

Survey

You will then be asked to complete a survey about your confidence and capabilities at the time when you started your first role. This is vitally important information and will help you prioritise your development across the activities (EPA’s) relevant to your role to those needing most support. The results of this survey are confidential.

Choosing EPAs

You can then choose the EPAs that are relevant to your role, we recommend that you do this together with your VetGDP Adviser so that you can discuss each EPA. The number of EPAs chosen will vary depending on the role of the graduate. If they do not appear to reflect the full scope of the role this may be picked up and challenged by the independent peer review when submitting the portfolio for sign off at the end of the programme.

This section contains the full list of EPAs with further information about each.

Once you have chosen relevant EPAs for your role, your VetGDP Adviser will need to login to their e-portfolio to confirm the selection and then you can start recording your progress.

We would expect to see more activities logged in those portfolios with less EPAs.

If you feel you need to develop an extra EPA to cover your role

Please look back carefully over the full list of EPAs that are already there and view the page, 'Adding additional EPAs to the VetGDP programme'. The EPAs are deliberately high level so that they can be applied to almost every veterinary role.

Using the "create new EPA" form within the e-portfolio, new EPA submissions are initially sent to the RCVS Education Department and then to the VetGDP subcommittee for approval. Once confirmed the new EPA will appear in the list of EPAs in your e-portfolio. It will also enable other users to choose the new EPA that you have created.

Activities and reflections

Graduates should carry out their work as normal and in doing so work through your chosen EPAs and record your progress against each of the contexts and variables within each. The programme is led by the Graduate and you should request support where needed.  The activities and reflections build up a picture of your experience and capabilities in your first period at work. These will provide evidence that your e-portfolio has depth and breadth.

When recording activities and reflections keep referring to the description and success criteria for each EPA. Your portfolio should give evidence that you can meet the descriptions with competence and justifiable confidence. Your portfolio should show depth and breadth of evidence of experience by giving evidence that you can do this across the variables set in the success criteria.

The activity description doesn’t need to be long, you are not writing a case report but there should be enough information to remind you of the case and give your peer reviewer a good idea of the different types of cases you are seeing and the levels of difficulty. Do use bullet points if you wish. Not every case needs to be logged and you can group cases together into one activity if that is useful to show progress. Try and get into the habit of logging something each day. The same activity can be copied into more than one EPA, but the reflections would be different.

Do reflect on each activity. You can either use the questions set out or just use the free text section. Reflection will help you to focus on what you have learnt and where you still need experience. It is important to record and reflect on any feedback that you have been given.

Please do NOT use any personal/identifiable information for yourself, the clients or the Practice/workplace.

Monthly progress reviews

Progress reviews are records of conversations between the Graduate and Adviser on the EPA topic including progress, and action plans setting goals to progress further.  Over the course of the GDP portfolio, they should show that the graduate has become more competent and confident in each of their chosen EPAs. Ideally the Adviser and Graduate will sit down once a month to review each EPA. It may not be possible to cover all EPAs every month so you may wish to alternate between the EPAs discussed.

The progress review is added to their portfolio by the Graduate, giving them the opportunity to reflect on the feedback and discussion with their Adviser. To add a progress review, the Graduate click on the blue button next to “add activity” at the bottom of the screen with the list of chosen EPAs. Once saved, it can then be viewed by the Adviser, who should acknowledge the review and can add comments where necessary.

Sliding scales

The next page is for the graduate, in discussion with your VetGDP Adviser, to set your levels of experience on a scale for each of the criteria for that EPA.

The scales start at Day One Competent and move towards Independent, competent, confident practitioner.

It is a sliding scale which you can adjust (click on the circle and drag) at each progress review in agreement with your VetGDP Adviser. The aim is to get these all towards the right-hand side within about a year to 18 months of starting work, but everyone has different experiences, so may take more or less time. Some graduates and their Advisers feel that the bars can never be all the way to the right hand side as there will always be room for improvement.

Some EPAs do not have these scales as they are not appropriate. In these circumstances your progress should be reflected in the Progress Review Form. You may find a blank page here if there are no scales, please click save to move on.

Preparing to submit your e-portfolio

When you have demonstrated that you can perform all activities within your role with limited support you can submit your portfolio for review. It will first be sent your VetGDP Adviser for approval and then it will be reviewed for completeness initially by a member of the RCVS Education Department. Providing the portfolio is considered to be sufficient in terms of content, it is then shared (anonymised) with a member of the RCVS VetGDP panel. The panel is made up of experienced vets who have completed the VetGDP Adviser learning modules and are most likely to be (or have been previously) an Adviser themselves.

Some questions to think about before you submit:

• Have you checked that your e-portfolio does not contain any personal/identifiable information for yourself, the clients or the practice?      
• Does your e-portfolio contain activities, reflections and progress reviews for each of your chosen EPAs?
• Looking carefully at the description of each of your chosen EPAs, have you achieved the relevant success criteria for each EPA? The peer reviewer will be looking for a depth and breadth of activities across each EPA.
• Does your e-portfolio show evidence of progress? Have you set goals, with the assistance of your VetGDP Adviser, and reflected on whether you have achieved them? Are you a competent and confident Veterinary Surgeon who can perform all activities within your role without support?

How to submit your e-portfolio

When you log into your e-portfolio, you’ll notice a tab in the top bar called 'Manage Portfolio' and from here you can submit your portfolio for review.

• Once you’ve read the guidance above and are ready to submit your e-portfolio,  click the gold ‘Submit my e-portfolio’ button
• Your VetGDP Adviser will get an e-mail asking them to log into the e-portfolio and approve your e-portfolio to be sent for peer review

This will ensure it is sent to the RCVS for an internal quality assurance check before it is forwarded to an independent external peer reviewer for final approval. You will be able to check the progress of your review in your e-portfolio.

Before the VetGDP is signed off you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire, which allows us to gather valuable insight into your experience on the programme.

Feedback

You cannot fail your VetGDP. The peer reviewer is a second VetGDP Adviser looking at your portfolio against the EPA descriptions and success criteria. The peer reviewer will provide feedback on your e-portfolio. They may agree that your e-portfolio is complete or they may ask for additional information to be added to the e-portfolio. This is not a criticism but useful information for your learning, to further improve your practice and encourage your professional development. You can discuss this feedback with your VetGDP Adviser and make any additions as required, and then submit again.

Changing Practice and/or Adviser

To do this you need to click on the cog in the top right-hand corner of your e-portfolio and click on re-set. You will not lose your records. You can then choose a new practice and Adviser from the drop-down list. Please make sure you have updated your relationship before you do this.