Interim Membership by Assessment of Performance (iMAP)

 

Update January 2010

 

iMAP, the route to Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners for those who have completed GP specialty training, has been extremely well received by established GPs.  A far greater than anticipated uptake of the programme has been seen since its inception in September 2007.  As a result of its success and popularity, College Council has recently agreed to extend the availability of iMAP for two further years so that the introduction its successor assessment will coincide with the introduction of revalidation for General Practitioners.  Further details of our plans in this regard will be available in due course.

 

As a result of iMAP’s extension, a review of the precise requirements of the portfolio is taking place.  It is anticipated that any amendments would be minor, but a revised portfolio template and handbook, together with Candidate Regulations, will be released in April 2010.

 

Candidates may continue to apply and submit portfolios using the current documents until such time as the update is made available.  Please note that the iMAP office will not be able to advise further information on any amendments that may occur prior to their release.

 

BACKGROUND TO IMAP

 

Interim Membership by Assessment of Performance (iMAP) provides an opportunity for established GPs to become members of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). Unlike other branches of the medical profession membership of the RCGP has not been a prerequisite to work as a general practitioner in the UK. GPs participating in iMAP compile a portfolio documenting their day to day practice, and when that is accepted by assessors, they are invited to attend an oral assessment.

 

iMAP is designed to evaluate the performance of individual GPs and is accessible to GPs with a wide variety of work patterns.

 

iMAP is easily attainable for any GP providing a good standard of care to their patients. Many GPs will already be doing what is required by iMAP and they will simply need to document this information in the format required. However, some aspects of iMAP such as an audit might need to be carried out specifically for iMAP. The iMAP pilot showed that most GPs could complete the iMAP portfolio within a 3 to 6 month period of fairly concentrated work.

 

All key iMAP documents and support materials can be accessed via different sub-headings on the left hand side of this screen. Any new developments or updates will be posted on this page.

 

THE STRUCTURE OF iMAP

 

Portfolio Assessment

 

The iMAP portfolio is a Word document that candidates should download from the iMAP Portfolio sub-heading.

 

Candidates may begin working on their portfolios prior to submitting an application (all necessary documents are available on this website – please see the tabs on the left hand side of this screen).  However, the material in a portfolio must be less than one year old at the time it is submitted for assessment. Portfolios cannot be submitted until the candidate’s eligibility, based on their application, has been confirmed by the iMAP office. 

 

All iMAP candidates will be given an original portfolio submission deadline of one year from the date of receipt of their application.  Please note that all material submitted in the portfolio must be no older than one year on the date of original portfolio submission.

 

On completion, the portfolio document is submitted by email to the iMAP office. The portfolio is then independently assessed by two iMAP assessors, who will produce a single summary report that is sent to the candidate as feedback. If the portfolio is of a satisfactory standard candidates will be invited to an oral assessment. If the portfolio requires further work, the assessors will request a re-submission, highlighting the areas requiring further clarification by the candidate.

 

Please follow this link to view iMAP criteria

 

Oral Assessment

 

Following the submission of a successful portfolio, candidates will be invited to participate in an oral assessment. The oral assessment consists of three parts and will last for a total of 90 minutes. Part of the oral will be based on the candidate’s submitted portfolio work and part on the broader issues relating to the portfolio. The oral assessments will take place at various times of the year at the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) centre in Croydon. Candidates will only be permitted one attempt of the oral assessment.

 

 

THE WORK FOR IMAP

 

The iMAP portfolio should be straightforward to complete. In essence candidates are asked to document what they did and then explain why they did it.

 

Documenting ‘what was done’ is clearly defined in the 'Guidelines' and the ‘What the criterion will be assessed on’ paragraphs of the Handbook. Proformas have been included to help candidates document all the required information. If a candidate has not supplied sufficient information or if something is ambiguous the portfolio will be sent back for resubmission.

 

Justifying ‘why something was done’ is included in the reflective parts of the proformas but the main assessment of candidate’s justification for a particular action is at the oral assessment. Sometimes the justification of what was done will be that the candidate followed an evidence based practice, local or national guideline. Occasionally candidates will have varied the suggested management plan of a guideline to meet the needs of a particular patient. Candidates will need to be aware that they have done this and provide sufficient evidence as to why. Sometimes (quite frequently!) there are no right or wrong answers but a decision will need to have been made. Candidates should be able to describe the guiding framework they used to make this decision. The oral assessment will also explore the broader issues relating to the portfolio which will allow the candidate to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the issues involved.

 

iMAP Message from Vice-chair

Follow the link below to view a short video message from the Vice Chair of iMAP, Dr Alex Watson, about undertaking iMAP.

 

Link to iMAP Video (48 seconds)

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