The South African Academy of Family Physicians wants to recognize competent and effective clinical trainers in the workplace through a process of national accreditation. The main intention is to encourage family physicians to develop expertise as clinical trainers, recognize those that are doing well, and stimulate interest in educational expertise in the workplace.

Nationally accredited clinical trainers will be listed on our website and will receive a certificate at the National Family Practitioners Conference.

The expertise needed to be an effective clinical trainer in the workplace will benefit a wide range of health professionals. Family physicians are often involved in the training of registrars, interns, medical students, clinical associates and others. In particular, we hope that more effective clinical training will improve the number of new family physicians passing the national examination and being available to the country.

The National Education and Training Committee of the SAAFP will be responsible for the process and for making the final decision on whether to accredit someone or not.

The key areas of expertise are:

1. Ensuring safe and effective patient care through training.
2. Establishing and maintaining an environment for learning
3. Teaching and facilitating learning.
4. Enhancing learning through assessment.
5. Supporting and monitoring educational progress.

If you would like to be accredited, please contact Lucille Boshoff in the SAAFP office admin@saafp.org

You will need to be a full member of the SAAFP and provide the following:

1. Certificate of successful completion of the 5-day Training of Clinical Trainers course, offered annually by the SAAFP. If you have completed an equivalent course elsewhere then evidenced of this can also be submitted.
2. Evidence of two annual formative assessment visits where you received feedback on your performance and documented a personal development plan. See https://doi.org/10.1080/20786190.2019.1647639 for more information on such visits. You will need to submit the report for each visit and your development plan.
3. A recent multisource evaluation of your performance as a clinical trainer (within 6 months of the application). This will use a validated questionnaire that assesses the five key areas of expertise. You will need to have feedback from 10-15 people across three different categories (registrars/students, colleagues, people that you report to for clinical training). At least 50% need to be students. Lucille Boshoff will provide you with the link to the questionnaire and further information.
4. You may also provide any additional evidence of your expertise as a clinical trainer such as certificates from short courses, diplomas or degrees in health professions education.

To access the MSF Questionnaire click HERE.