Severn & Wessex Vocational Training Schemes

About the SEAP questionnaire

Dr Mark Rickenbach (Associate Dean, Severn & Wessex Deanery) has played a key role in the development and validation of the SEAP (Severn and Wessex [Southern] Educational Audit Project) questionnaire.

The questionnaire has been used in the same standardised format since 1993.

It is designed to avoid bias both within the questions, and in the layout.

The questionnaire was piloted and went through three development phases.

It has been validated in several ways, including review by a cohort of Directors and Associate Directors of Postgraduate Education in the UK (face validity), and comparison to transcribed interview data with SHOs (content validity).

The questionnaire have been repeated on the same cohort of doctors to provide measures of reliability.

The questionnaire design, validation and reliability form part of a PhD thesis entitled "Interventions to improve education: The NHS and junior doctors". It has been reported in the BMJ (letters), IMPACT and the "green journal" Education in General Practice.

What questions are asked in the SEAP on-line form?

See the list of the SEAP questions page.

The web-based SEAP process

The paper-based version of the SEAP questionnaire, used to audit the education and educational environment in hospital posts over the last 10 yrs, has evolved into to a web based questionnaire.

The web-based SEAP questionnaire contains the questions that have been used nationally by PMETB and will meet both PMETB needs and our local needs.

Each trainee should already hold a password that enables them to access their own personal website to complete the SEAP questionnaire. This password and the website are available to them for the duration of their training.

It is intended that all doctors complete the web based SEAP questionnaire in the last month of each post/placement. The requirement to do this should be placed in their educational contract (eg “it is part of the professional role of the trainee to provide feedback and ensure the Deanery and Trust have up to date contact details including e-mail addresses”). This will provide a cumulative picture of the training in that post.

GPVTS trainees in both Severn and Wessex should all be doing this from October 2006 onward. All other specialties will be doing this from October 2007, after the run through grades are established.

Trainees will automatically receive a reminder to complete the web based SEAP questionnaire, provided that they have informed the Deanery of any change in their end of post dates or e-mail address. This should be completed around the first day of the last month of each post.

Reminders will be sent in the next few weeks to reach trainees doing 4-month posts. Trainees in 6-month posts will also receive a reminder at this time but would complete the questionnaire later, in their last month.

What happens to the results?

GP SHOs complete an on-line SEAP questionnaire at the end of each post.

The results are handled in an anonymised format by the Centre for Computing and Statistics at Southampton University.

Feedback can be given to consultant educational supervisors:

• using the raw questionnaire figures and results;
• using percentages comparing to other posts;
• graphical presentations, for instance the pie charts used on this website, help to highlight any problem areas.

The PO's role

Personal reminders are more effective than e-mail alone, so please routinely remind trainees to complete the feedback on-line within the last month of their post.

Any trainee that cannot access their website or the questionnaire should e-mail contact@sevwesdeanery.nhs.uk with their first name and surname, current post specialty, hospital Trust, training grade (SHO) and GMC number.

We expect to have standardised feedback from the last SEAP/PMETB survey for each VTS, Trust and Specialty in due course. Michael aims to provide more detailed graphical comparisons following on from this.