Purpose of the portfolio

In a nutshell, the portfolio serves 2 purposes: Internally, it provides evidence of learning during your clinical family medicine work, being a formative component (assessment for learning between you and your supervisors). Externally, it provides evidence of learning towards a summative component, where an acceptable portfolio is necessary to pass the FCFP examinations of the CMSA.

Your portfolio should help you to:

1.  Think consciously and objectively about your own training. This is known as reflective learning and is its primary purpose.
2.  Document the scope and depth of your training experiences.
3.  Provide a record of your progress and personal development as training proceeds.
In a nutshell, the portfolio serves 2 purposes: Internally, it provides evidence of learning during your clinical family medicine work, being a formative component (assessment for learning between you and your supervisors). Externally, it provides evidence of learning towards a summative component, where an acceptable portfolio is necessary to pass the FCFP examinations of the CMSA.
4.  Provide an objective basis for discussing work performance, objectives, and immediate and future educational needs with your supervisors.
5.  Provide documented evidence for the CMSA of the quality and intensity of the training that you have undergone

Who looks at your Portfolio of Learning?

1.  Registrars. You should interact regularly with your portfolio to ensure it documents your learning on a continuous basis and stimulates you to reflect on your experiences.
2.  Supervisors. You should meet on a regular basis with your supervisor to develop and reflect on your learning plans, to be observed and reflect on your clinical practice and to have a variety of educational meetings. A reasonable suggestion is to prioritise at least 1 hour per week of face-to-face supervisor-registrar time. All these activities should be documented in your portfolio. Your supervisor should also review progress with the portfolio during intermittent progress evaluations. In this way, the portfolio allows for the structuring of the supervision process.
3.  Clinical Competency Committee (local and national). The CMSA requires evidence that learning has occurred as part of a structured programme to sit for FCFP(SA) examination. The portfolio is an essential piece of evidence for this.