GP supervisors assessing GP registrars - theory and practice

Background General practice supervisors are increasingly being expected to assess their registrars. Objective In this article we explore the issues this raises for supervisors, and discuss the literature, which suggests that global assessments are the most accurate and feasible. Discussion We suggest the following guidelines for supervisors: inform registrars at the beginning of the term about how and when they will be assessed; be clear that the aim is to decide if the registrars' practice is safe for patients and appropriate for their stage of training; observe registrars at work; make an initial judgement of registrars' performance; test the initial judgement on performance applying qualitative research methods to improve trustworthiness and reduce potential biases; use the working diagnosis of registrar performance to guide the level of support and clinical oversight needed and flag registrars who require further assessment by educational organisations for remediation decisions.