Twelve tips for successfully implementing logbooks in clinical training

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Table

Practice points

Logbooks provide a collection of learning objectives to ensure consistent educational standards in clinical training. Logbooks give a fast overview over requirements of clinical training and the status quo of fulfillment. Logbooks are especially useful if multiple sites are involved in the clinical training. In practice the use of logbooks is often deficient. To successfully implement logbooks into clinical training it is necessary to develop the logbook carefully, involve and inform stakeholders, provide the necessary resources and integrate the logbook within the curriculum.

Table 1. Checklist for successfully implementing logbooks into clinical training.

Tip 1: Use all resources you can obtain and do not repeat work that has already been done
– Does a logbook for your discipline and stage of education already exist?	□
– Does it fulfill criteria of the tips 3–5?	□
Tip 2: Involve all stakeholders and embed the introduction of logbooks into a change management process
– Are all stakeholders involved in the process of introducing the logbook and further development (supervising physicians, mentors, students)?	□
– How do you ensure transparency of the whole process?	□
Tip 3: Keep it short, simple, and precise
– Are all objectives listed in the logbook really important?	□
– Are the basic skills and learning objectives exactly defined?	□
– Is additional information included (such as frequently needed knowledge of the discipline or contact details of supervising physicians and mentors)?	□
– Does the arrangement of data allow timely and easy analysis?	□
Tip 4: Mind legal issues
– Do you take copyright/ownership of your country into account?	□
– Do you take data security of patients into account?	□
– Do you take data security of trainee into account?	□
Tip 5: Use a handy logbook format
– If you use paper-based logbooks: is it pocket-size?	□
– If you use electronic logbooks: do you have an appropriate IT?	□
– Is the logbook of low cost?	□
Tip 6: Make the logbook an integral part of the curriculum
– Are the learning objectives of the logbook part of the curriculum?	□
– Are the learning objectives of the logbook part of the curriculum in lectures and seminars (Miller-Level 1 and 2)?
– Are the basic skills and learning objectives of the logbook part of assessment?	□
Tip 7: Mentor and supervise learning objectives
– Is there regular communication and supervision via logbook between doctors and students?	□
– If in addition to the supervising physician, there is a mentor involved in the training process: is the logbook used to evaluate the learning process?	□
Tip 8: Provide time and space for teaching and learning
– Do supervising physicians and mentors have enough time to supervise and to mentor?	□
– Do trainees have enough time to read, to study and to work with the logbook?	□
– Does the head of the department accept and support the logbook?	□
Tip 9: Establish an easy going workflow
– Did you contact involved staff to find the best way to distribute, collect and evaluate the logbook?	□
– Does your workflow involve following activities around the logbook: printing, storing, handing over, explaining, collecting, reviewing and updating?	□
Tip 10: Implement an evaluation cycle to optimize logbook-location-fit
– Is the evaluation used to improve the curriculum of the clinical setting?	□
– Do you give timely feedback to the students?	□
– Do you give timely feedback to faculty?	□
– Do you give timely feedback to the supervising physicians?	□
– Does the evaluation show the contribution of supervising physicians and mentors to the learning of the trainees?	□
Tip 11: Inform staff and trainees
– Did you inform trainees about function and content of the logbook (best face to face)?	□
– Did you inform concerned staff about function and content of the logbook (e.g. physicians, head of department, nurses)?	□
– Do you plan regular information session for concerned staff?	□
Tip 12: Train supervising physicians and mentors
– Do you inform about the structure, content and aim of the logbook?
– Do you provide regular, short training of supervising physicians and mentors?	□