Knowledge, skills and development

Why this matters on day one

The core duty here is deceptively simple — you must recognise and work within the limits of your competence. Almost every serious FY1 incident involves someone doing something they had not been trained to do, usually because asking felt worse than trying.

What the domain requires

1. 1Be competent. Provide a good standard of practice and care, keep your knowledge and skills up to date, and take part in activities that maintain and develop them.
2. 2Recognise your limits. Work within your competence. Ask for help, refer, and decline what you cannot do safely. This is framed as a positive duty, not a permission.
3. 3Contribute to learning. Support the learning of others — students, peers and colleagues. Teaching is part of the standard, not an extracurricular.
4. 4Reflect and improve. Engage with appraisal, respond to feedback, and act on it in a way that can be seen.

What evidencing it looks like

• Supervised learning events showing progression, not just completion.
• A record of asking for help appropriately in a situation beyond your competence.
• Teaching delivered, with feedback.
• Appraisal documentation showing you acted on previous feedback.

What falls short

• Attempting an unfamiliar procedure because the ward is short-staffed.
• Treating mandatory training as a box-tick and then not knowing the escalation pathway when it matters.
• Collecting feedback and never demonstrating a change from it.

Demonstrated by