Supervising students in secondary care

All students should receive comprehensive onboarding support, including a formal departmental induction and access to their timetable in advance of the placement or as an integral part of the induction process.

Recommended orientation and onboarding activities:

• Team introductions: introduce students to the key members of the team and meet with the appointed clinical supervisor (or delegated deputy, if the supervisor isn’t available).
• Tour of the department: this should include staff facilities and any other relevant information about the ward or clinical areas.
• Access: Ensure the student has appropriate access to the clinical environment and any required patient systems or software.
• Health and safety information: highlight emergency exits and review relevant security and compliance protocols.
• Timetable provision: ideally, share a timetable in advance of the student’s arrival. If this is not possible, we request that one is provided on the first day. Clear start and finish times are particularly important for students who travel long distances. A general or skeletal timetable is acceptable, especially where staffing or timings are subject to change.

Students should be appointed a designated supervisor/s for the duration of their placement. We recognise that given the busy nature of clinical departments, it is not always feasible for supervisors to spend the entire rotation directly observing their student. Where possible, it is considered best practice to share supervision responsibilities between two consultants. This approach ensures adequate cover in the event of absence and supports continuity for the student. Supervisors should also collect 360-degree feedback from the wider team, particularly if the primary supervisor has been absent for part of the placement.

Completion of the Clinical Placement Assessment may be delegated to another senior consultant if the appointed supervisor is unavailable or if another consultant has been more actively involved in supervising the student.

Supervisors should review specialty-specific learning objectives and ensure appropriate learning opportunities are in place to support students in developing confidence and competence in their clinical skills.

To ensure students can meet the learning and assessment requirements of their clinical placement, we recommend the following:

Assessments

Students are required to complete the following assessments during each clinical placement:

CBDs and Clinical Placement Assessment must be completed by the named supervisor (or a delegated deputy). Ideally one CBD should be submitted mid-way through the placement, and the second CBD should be completed as part of the end-of-placement sign-off activities. To help distribute workload, a CBD may be completed by another consultant within the department; however, for continuity, it is best practice for both CBDs to be signed off by the supervisor.

Meetings

It is essential that students meet their supervisor—either remotely or in person—to ensure all assessment requirements are completed by the end of the placement. Assessments will be provided by the student via email or on a device for completion in PebblePad, our e-portfolio system.

Timely completion of these assessments is critical to keep students on track with the clinical placement module requirements. Supervisor support in facilitating this process ensures students meet formative deadlines and progress successfully at the end of the academic year. Retrospective completion of assessments often leads to delays or missed submissions. To avoid these issues, it is strongly recommended that students and supervisors complete assessments in real time. This approach means students can reflect on the feedback they receive, taking forward identified learning points/needs into their next placement.

All placement-specific learning objectives are available to view here, along with the trajectory of development for a year two student. This framework provides a structured approach for monitoring student progression and outlines the expected competency level for the following skills:

• History taking and consultation
• General physical examination
• Interpretation of evidence and investigations
• Clinical judgment and risk management
• Therapeutics and prescribing
• Clinical planning and procedural skills.

We strongly encourage new and existing supervisors to review objectives and the trajectory of development to inform the Clinical Placement Assessment.