How to prepare for each component of the IAPS

Preparing and submitting your IAPS showcase

In OneFile, you must prepare and submit a showcase of evidence generated during your HSST programme. Your evidence must demonstrate how you have met the overarching descriptor for each Good Scientific Practice (GSP) domain at Consultant Clinical Scientist level. In OneFile you will make 5 submissions inside a new ‘HSST IAPS showcase’ module: 1 for each of the 5 domains of the Standards of Proficiency.

When making your submissions you do not have to submit new work or new evidence. You should draw together and summarise existing evidence from your portfolio and match it against a specific single domain. This evidence must show how you are meeting the standards of that domain. Summarising and contextualising your evidence for each domain will help your IAPS assessors understand your work. The assessors will use each of the 5 submissions as the starting point for your IAPS professional discussion on how you feel you have performed against each of the domains.

When making your 5 submissions you are not required to cover every sub-set standard of the principal domain. The point of each of the 5 submissions is to showcase a coherent body of work that demonstrates how you have met that GSP domain. It is not to simply upload everything that you have done that you can connect to that domain. The evidence that you submit against a single domain must focus on, or be generated from, a coherent set of activities.

We recommend that you meet with your supervisor to discuss the evidence you wish to showcase. Your supervisor will need to sign off the 5 showcase submissions made inside OneFile and your exit application. We expect the sign-off of the showcase submissions to be a formality as the showcase is a re-presentation of already signed off evidence.

The Lead Examiner will review your showcase evidence submitted for each GSP domain. If they consider it appropriately mapped to the GSP domain for which it was submitted, it will be approved. The review will only be to ensure a match. It will not be to determine if the evidence is sufficient or at the right level as this has already been confirmed and signed off by your workplace supervisor. Should the Lead Examiner not consider the evidence to be suitable to the domain, the showcase will not be approved. The Lead Examiner’s comments will be emailed to you, and you will be asked to amend the appropriate showcase submissions. If the amended submissions are not returned by the given deadline, you will put at risk your inclusion in the selected IAPS schedule.

You must only revise the evidence under the unmatched GSP domain to address the Lead Examiner’s comments and resubmit it within your ‘IAPS showcase’ module. Guidance on how to do this will be included in the email together with the Lead Examiner’s comments. Do not be tempted to revise any evidence for any GSP domain that has been accepted by the Lead Examiner. They will only review for approval the revised evidence for the mismatched GSP domain. Should you change anything else, your showcase will not be accepted, and you will be required to start the process again. The new submission will be treated as the second of 3 allowed sittings of the IAPS.

Steps to guide you through showcase submission in OneFile

For each of the 5 Good Scientific Practice domains you should do the following.

1. Choose a coherent selection of evidence that you feel gives a good example of you meeting the Standards of Proficiency for this domain. The evidence should be selected from a coherent set of activities. This is all about providing a good, representative example of your work. It is not about uploading a set of disparate, unconnected pieces of evidence.
2. Create a new submission in OneFile. When you are asked to ‘Set Criteria’, choose the appropriate GSP domain from within the ‘HSST IAPS showcase’ module. See Figure 1.

Figure 1. List of domains in OneFile

3. Within the ‘Evidence’ free text box you should provide a narrative that summarises your evidence, places it in context and connects it together. This will make it easier for your IAPS assessors to understand your work and conduct the professional discussion with you about each of the GSP domains.
4. Attach your selected evidence to your submission.
5. Sign the submission and submit it to your supervisor for sign-off. To submit your work, click ‘Save & Quit’. Your supervisor’s sign-off should be a formality as you should be re-presenting and summarising evidence that is already in your e-portfolio.
6. When all 5 of your showcase submissions have been signed off, you will see a red message as shown in Figure 2. Do not worry about this confusing message. It appears because the showcase module is unweighted in OneFile and does not count towards your overall 100% progress. It is a quirk of OneFile that you can safely ignore.

Figure 2. Showcase submissions unweighted module message in OneFile

7. Once you have submitted your showcase and had all 5 submissions signed off, you can apply to sit the IAPS. The IAPS application form is available in OneFile. Your IAPS application must be received by the showcase submission deadline. Click this link to view the IAPS deadline dates.

What to expect during the professional discussions

Professional discussion element 1 – review of a specialist or service-based paper

You will have 60 minutes to review a specialist or service-based paper identified by the Lead Examiner. You should use this time to prepare to address the following question:

“Please discuss with us (the panel) the key points of interest to you as a Consultant Clinical Scientist that you elicited from the paper in your review. We (the panel) would like to understand your reasoning as part of your discussion. We (the panel) may come in with supplementary questions as appropriate to the discussion.”

You can make notes about the paper, (your notes will not be used as part of the assessment), and these can be taken into your professional discussion. The panel examiners will also have a copy of the paper for reference. They will have used the 60 minutes to agree any discussion points they may wish to raise if not covered by you.

Once your 60 minutes review time is finished, you will meet the panel and have 30 minutes to discuss your key points. You may refer to your notes during this time. During the 30 minutes the panel examiners may ask supplementary questions relating to their pre-agreed discussion points, if you have not already covered them in your discussion.

Professional discussion element 2 – meeting the Higher Specialist Scientist Standards of Proficiency

You will have a maximum of 60 minutes for this element. For the discussion on each of the GSP domains, including answering any examiner questions, you will have up to 10 minutes. A panel examiner will begin each GSP domain discussion by asking you the standard question in relation to each domain:

“With reference to the evidence you submitted, please tell us how this demonstrates your development to Consultant Clinical Scientist level on the (name of domain) domain.”

The panel examiners will have been granted access to your OneFile e-portfolio and will have been asked to review the 5 submissions in your ‘IAPS showcase’ module only. They may also have questions they wish to ask you in relation to your discussion and the evidence you have submitted.

The Lead Panel Examiner will be responsible for time keeping but you are advised that you should also be mindful of the time and prepare for your discussion accordingly.

During the remaining 10 minutes, the panel examiners may have supplementary questions or require clarification to cement their independent judgements. If they do not, the Lead Panel Examiner will ask if you have anything further to add. If you do not, they will conclude the discussion.