ePortfolio and exams

For Anaesthesia residents

All residents should use the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Lifelong Learning Platform. If residents require further information contact should be made via the RCoA support team via email, lifelong@rcoa.ac.uk.

If residents are missing educational supervisors or assessors which should be appearing within the lists, they should email the RCoA support team via lifelong@rcoa.ac.uk with their details (first name, surname & email address) to be checked. Residents will then be contacted to confirm if the individual exists on the system.

For Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) residents

Residents need to complete their ICM assessments on the ICM ePortfolio. The ePortfolio is part of the existing NHS ePortfolio run by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), which will be familiar to former foundation trainees and those training in specialties whose portfolio is also run by NES (e.g. Emergency Medicine, Acute Medicine, Clinical Radiology).

All new residents starting in the ICM programme should use the ePortfolio to record evidence.

The Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA) Examinations

Information on the FRCA examinations and dates can be found on the RCoA website here.

During the Stage 1 training programme, trainee Anaesthetists take their examinations in three parts (MCQ, OSCE & SOE), called the Primary FRCA. Trainees cannot be appointed to ST4-7 without having passed the Primary FRCA in its entirety.

The Final FRCA examination is also in three parts (MCQ, SAQ & SOE), and is taken during ST4 and ST5. A resident will not be considered for a SIA post until they have passed their FRCA.

FRCA exams are set and supervised by the RCoA.

FFICM Examinations

The FFICM examination is taken during stage two of training and must be completed before moving on to stage three of training. The qualification comprises two parts – an MCQ and an OSCE/Structured Oral Examination. The full details can be found on the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine website here.