A structured trainer's report for use in summative assessment in general practice has been designed, and it is important that the content validity of this report is tested before it is widely adopted. The aim of this paper was to assess the content validity of a proposed report from the perspective of doctors who have recently completed vocational training. A postal questionnaire survey was sent out seeking the views of 220 doctors who had completed vocational training in 1994 as to whether or not the proposed contents were items that are needed in general practice, and whether or not the items were suitable for assessment by means of a trainer's report. The response rate was 73.3%. More than 85% of respondents agreed that the 31 items proposed for inclusion in the trainer's report were needed in general practice. While the proportions agreeing that the items were suitable for assessment by a trainer's report were considerably lower, for 26 items significantly more agreed that they were suitable than disagreed. Analysis of the freetext comments made by respondents illustrated their concerns. The results provide support for the content validity of this proposed trainer's report; however it is important that the concerns expressed are addressed.
Risk factor weightings Randall et al suggest that an error may arise through using weightings derived from men seen 18-20 years ago. The Dundee score is based on data of similar age to that of almost all other British ' and American scoring systems." "' Risk assessment must be based on historical comparison (unless it is spurious), and for that reason it will take a similar length of time to know whether the error actually exists.
This is the third paper on criteria and methods for approving trainers and training practices drawn up in the Oxford region. In this paper we discuss how they were evaluated.
New criteria for approving practices for training general practitioners have been accepted by the Oxford regional postgraduate subcommittee for general practice. These criteria cover the trainer, the practice, and the training. Two further papers will discuss new methods of assessment and their evaluation.
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