Medical education is an expanding area of specialist interest for medical professionals. Whilst most doctors will be familiar with the compilation of clinical portfolios for scrutiny of their clinical practice and provision of public accountability, teaching portfolios used specifically to gather and demonstrate medical education activity remain uncommon in many non-academic settings. For aspiring and early career medical educators in particular, their value should not be underestimated. Such a medical educator's portfolio (MEP) is a unique compendium of evidence that is invaluable for appraisal, revalidation, and promotion. It can stimulate and provide direction for professional development, and is a rich source for personal reflection and learning. We recommend that all new and aspiring medical educators prepare an MEP, and suggest twelve tips on how to skillfully compile one.

TAB and the ESR are strongly predictive of DiD. However, SLEs are not being used to their full potential, and the quality of completion of reports on SLEs and feedback needs to be improved in order to better identify and manage DiD.

Qualitative research has a rich tradition in the social sciences. Since the late 19th century, researchers interested in studying the social behaviour and cultures of humankind have perceived limitations in trying to explain the phenomena they encounter in purely quantifiable, measurable terms. Anthropology, in its social and cultural forms, was one of the foremost disciplines in developing what would later be termed a qualitative approach, founded as it was on ethnographic studies which sought an understanding of the culture of people from other societies, often hitherto unknown and far removed in geography. 1Early researchers would spend extended periods of time living in societies, observing, noting and photographing the minutia of daily life, with the most committed often learning the language of peoples they observed, in the hope of gaining greater acceptance by them and a more detailed understanding of the cultural norms at play. All academic disciplines concerned with human and social behaviour, including anthropology, sociology and psychology, now make extensive use of qualitative research methods whose systematic application was first developed by these colonial-era social scientists.Their methods, involving observation, participation and discussion of the individuals and groups being studied, as well as reading related textual and visual media and artefacts, form the bedrock of all qualitative social scientific inquiry. The general aim of qualitative research is thus to develop concepts which help us to understand social phenomena in, wherever possible, natural rather than experimental settings, to gain an understanding of the experiences, perceptions and/or behaviours of those studied, and the meanings attached to them.2 Researchers interested in finding out why people behave the way they do; how people are affected by events, how attitudes and opinions are formed; how and why cultures and practices have developed in the way they have, might well consider qualitative methods to answer their questions.What questions are best answered using qualitative research?It is fair to say that clinical and health-related research is still dominated by quantitative methods, of which the randomised controlled trial, focused on hypothesis-testing through experiment controlled by randomisation, is perhaps the quintessential method. Qualitative approaches may seem obscure to the uninitiated when directly compared with the experimental, quantitative methods used in clinical research. There is increasing recognition among researchers in these fields, however, that qualitative methods such as observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, consensus methods, case studies and the interpretation of texts can be more effective than quantitative approaches in exploring complex phenomena and as such are valuable additions to the methodological armoury available to them. 3In considering what kind of research questions are best answered using a qualitative approach, it is important to remember that, first and foremost, unlike q...

Background The Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) is often the initial step along the Integrated Academic Training pathway in the UK. It is relatively new and research as to its effectiveness is limited. Our objective was to evaluate the AFP in terms of its impact on academic career aspirations and to explore trainees’ expectations and experience of the programme and investigate the enablers and barriers to success. Method Seven supervisors of Academic Foundation trainees were interviewed over a 5-month period in 2014. AFP trainees’ views were sought by way of an online questionnaire that covered six areas: demographics, expectations, academic time, experience, research and achievements. Results Thirty-four trainees completed online questionnaires. The majority of trainees (94%) did not proceed directly along the Integrated Academic Training pathway to complete Academic Clinical Fellowships, but those who applied to do so were often successful (nine applicants, six successful). Free-text comments revealed an expectation of a more course-like structure to the programme, this is in contrast to the authentic experience of clinical academia, along with its associated challenges, that some of the supervisors reported. The importance of planning and preparation for success was a recurring theme from the supervisor interviews. Conclusions The programme is achieving some success in encouraging academic careers. There are several areas that can be improved. Improving the availability of information and guidance for supervisors and facilitating Academic Foundation Doctors to network are both feasible changes that could lead to improvement.

Identifying the effectiveness of an innovative model of delivery with regard to the Medical Leadership Curriculum may assist with medical staff engagement and support health service improvements to benefit patient care.