RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The Spanish Family Medicine National Commission is proposing a new portfolio-type Specialist Training Book (STB). OBJECTIVE: To pilot its contents, structure, and implementation strategies. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive study. SETTING: A Provincial Family Medicine Teaching Unit. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-eight tutors and 36 residents. METHODS: For 9 months the participants conducted a training assessment on diverse areas of competence by means of tasks at work. Tutors recorded information on the quality of reflection achieved by residents and the tasks they performed by means of the card model proposed in the STB. Residents filled in an ad hoc survey. A univariate analysis of quantitative data was conducted. RESULTS: Thirty-three surveys were received from residents; 21 tutors handed in 67 evaluation reports (average: 3 per tutor). They dealt with all the areas of competence, particularly those of communication, teaching, and ethics. Tasks most used were clinical sessions, critical incidents and video-recording. Both tutors and residents thought that the new method could be useful for reflecting on clinical practice, understanding their own areas of competence better and for strengthening the tutor-trainee relationship, especially if some suggestions to improve its practical use and reduce time and effort involved were taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: The new STB in its current version or with some modifications is a useful tool for residents' training assessment and is probably accepted well in our ambit.
