Day one ready
Generic Professional Capabilities 2017 (GMC)
Professional skills
GPC domain 2 — practical, communication and clinical skills, assessed by observation rather than by examination.
Why this matters on day one
This domain is where the GPC framework is most concrete: it covers history, examination, procedures, prescribing, and the communication that surrounds them. It is the domain your DOPS and mini-CEX entries populate.
What the domain requires
- 1What it requires. Practical procedures, patient examination, clinical communication, prescribing, and the ability to gather and interpret information to reach a working diagnosis.
- 2How it is judged. Direct observation — DOPS, mini-CEX, case-based discussion — with a competence level recorded, not a pass/fail.
What evidencing it looks like
- DOPS across the 23 GMC procedures, with repeat observations rather than single sign-offs.
- Mini-CEX covering acute, chronic and communication-heavy encounters.
- A case-based discussion where your reasoning, not just your conclusion, was examined.
What falls short
- One sign-off per procedure and never again — competence decays.
- Choosing only straightforward cases for observation, which evidences nothing.
Demonstrated by
GMC Generic professional capabilities framework (2017), domain 2