Situational Judgement

If you find yourself in your local hospital early next August, consider if you will the route which that junior doctor has taken to get there. Yesterday, my colleagues and I were furnished with the details of the process we have to go through to get there. I have been on an educational odyssey since 2004 and make my application for a foundation post. It is sobering to reflect that my degree in Medical Biochemistry combined with my medical degree (should it ever end) will be worth 50% of my application. You may be relieved though to learn that the other 50% is now dependent upon how I fare in the much feted "Situational Judgment Test". Brought in to combat bias and favouritism when allocating junior posts, the SJT as it is now universally known among the acronym crazed medical fraternity, is essentially an exam in common sense. That, of course, is one of the last areas which can't actually be taught. As such, it means that even if the knowledge base of your junior doctor isn't exactly top of the class, they will at least have a modicum of common sense with which to deal with their first few weeks. That being the case, I wonder if this could be done a little differently. We are due to sit our SJT in early December and we are reassured it is the one exam for which we can't very well revise or practice. If it is something you can't revise, what difference does it make when you sit it? Wouldn't it be radical if it was sat prior to gaining entry to medical school and then again half way through and one final go at the end of the final year? That way, we would presumably gain the same mark at the start, middle and end of our course. If it improved for some students, the obvious question would be: Why? If we don't explore this, we won't find out but I suspect scores would improve throughout the course perhaps more for some than others. As the profession seeks to smarten itself up post-Francis Report, it will be interesting to see if changes occur. The principle of the SJT is great but I feel it could be utilised more effectively throughout the degree course. God knows, the next thing we know, they'll be getting us to sit an exam in empathy - no doubt a new mini industry will spring up with companies offering to improve our marks. Interesting times though and good to see the GMC looking at different methods and areas of assessment.