Available from January 2025
Clinical Learning Australia™
The ePortfolio for prevocational doctors
What is Clinical Learning Australia™?
Clinical Learning Australia™ (CLA™) is an ePortfolio that records the development, training and assessment of Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) and Year 2 (PGY2) prevocational doctors across all states and territories in Australia. CLA™ delivers a consistent approach to prevocational training and assessment in line with the National Framework for Prevocational Medical Training.
CLA™ enables a harmonised approach to recording learning outcomes for prevocational doctors, supporting assessments over the PGY1 and PGY2 years and mobility across jurisdictions. CLA™:
- is aligned to the National Framework for Prevocational (PGY1 and PGY2) Medical Training
- provides a consistent experience for prevocational doctors and supervisors
- supports improved visibility for monitoring and tracking of training progress
- replaces manual paper-based learning and assessment
- provides detailed and aggregate data to support continuous improvement in training delivery
- enables the collection of on-the-job assessment feedback through mobile app enabled features
How does CLA™ work?
CLA™ records the progress of prevocational doctors as they complete their first 2 postgraduate years. Prevocational doctors log training activities that they undertake, and their supervisors can assess their progress in meeting the requirements of the National Framework for Prevocational (PGY1 and PGY2) Medical Training - ensuring a consistent and supportive approach to medical training and supervision.
Key users of CLA™
CLA™ is designed for prevocational doctors, supervisors and training administrators.
Prevocational doctors
PGY1 and PGY2 doctors can log their learning experiences in CLA™. It is an individual record of learning, summarising the rotations and assessments completed, start-of-term discussions, mid-term and end-of-term assessments, as well as progress against Prevocational Outcome Statements (POSs) and with Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).
Supervisors
Term supervisors and primary clinical supervisors can track and monitor training for each PGY1 and PGY2 doctor in CLA™ and record start-of-term discussions, and mid-term and end-of-term assessments.
Clinical supervisors and health practitioners who conduct Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) with PGY1 and PGY2 doctors can complete these in CLA™. Supervisors do not need to be registered users in the system and can be invited as ‘guest’ assessors. Registering as a CLA™ user is convenient for those who regularly conduct EPAs. Medical Education Units can assist with registration.
Administrator roles
Local administrators control how the system is set up to support training and who can access the system in their organisation. Administrators may include individuals from the Medical Education Unit, Junior Medical Officer management team or another team responsible for overall administration and management of prevocational training.
Administrators can:
- create and upload system users within their organisation, including prevocational doctors, supervisors, directors and other management roles
- upload and manage information related to accredited PGY1 and PGY2 terms and term allocations
- monitor the progress of trainees including if they have completed Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and all term-related assessments
- assign members to an Assessment Review Panel for the final assessment of PGY1 or PGY2 doctors.
Other management roles such as Directors of Prevocational Training, Directors of Clinical Training and Directors of Medical Services can track and monitor the progress of a prevocational doctor, view logbook entries and review assessments if required.
Assessment Review Panel members can use the system to identify if a prevocational doctor's progress has been discussed at the end of the year and if they are recommended to progress their training.
Organisations can set up multiple administrators in the CLA™ system. Administrators cannot delegate their functions within the system. It is recommended that each organisation, training program or site have more than one administrator to accommodate potential absences.
How do administrators access CLA™?
Administrators can access CLA™ from November 2024 to implement local setup in readiness for the 2025 clinical year. Local setup includes creating and uploading user profiles for trainees, supervisors and other local users. Administrators will also create or upload term rotations for trainees.
State and territory contacts will work with accredited training providers to identify which roles and individuals require administrative access to manage CLA™ locally.
How will administrators be trained?
Nominated administrators users will be invited to attend one training session in November, December, January or February. Training will be provided though the interactive online sessions below.
- Administrator live training - Session 1
19 Nov 2024 - 3.30 - 5.00pm AEDT - Administrator live training - Session 2
2 Dec 2024 - 3.30 - 5.00pm AEDT - Administrator live training - Session 3
5 Dec 2024 - 3.30 - 5.00pm AEDT - Administrator live training – Session 4
13 Jan 2025 - 3.30 - 5.00pm AEDT - Administrator live training – Session 5
5 Feb 2025 - 3.30 - 5.00pm AEDT
A comprehensive user guide, training videos and other resources will also be made available from December 2024.
Recorded training sessions and written materials will be made available for those unable to attend live sessions.
When will CLA™ be available?
Nominated administrators users will be able to upload and manage local users (prevocational doctors, supervisors and other local users), assign prevocational doctors to terms (via the term allocations) and complete other administrative tasks following initial training from November 2024.
The CLA™ will be available for use by prevocational doctors and supervisors in all states and territories at the start of the 2025 clinical year.
How is information recorded in CLA™?
Each state and territory is responsible for managing the implementation of CLA™ for prevocational medical training within their jurisdiction.
Administrators will be able to bulk upload local user data (PGY1s, PGY2s, supervisors and other local management roles) into the system or create users individually.
They can also bulk upload term allocations (the sequence of terms to be completed by each prevocational doctor) or create these term allocations individually.
To enter information via bulk upload, administrators can complete a spreadsheet and upload this into the system. Training on this process will be provided from November 2024.
Information about accredited terms will initially be uploaded centrally. Training providers or Postgraduate Medical Councils (PMC) (as agreed at each state and territory) will provide a completed term data spreadsheet to the project team. The term data information will be uploaded and made available in the system within 4 working days.
The Australian Medical Council (AMC) project team is engaging individually with key contacts from each PMC to arrange the collection and upload of term data.
How will prevocational doctors, supervisors and other managers access CLA™?
Administrators at accredited providers and sites are responsible for uploading and entering user data (PGY1 and PGY2 doctors, supervisors and other local managers) for their organisation.
Once administrators have uploaded the data or created the user profiles, those users will receive an email to let them know they can access the system.
Will prevocational doctors or supervisors need to pay to use CLA™?
No. Users do not need to pay to use CLA™. It is funded by state and territory governments.
What resources are available for prevocational doctors and supervisors?
User guides, videos and other training resources for trainees and supervisors will be available on the website from December 2024.
Who can see the information in CLA™?
The following groups of users can view information stored by CLA™.
- PGY1 and PGY2 doctors will be able to see their individual record of learning, including completed and pending mid-term and end of term supervisor reports, Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and their progress towards the Prevocational Outcome Statements (POSs).
- Term supervisors will be able to see the individual learning records for the cohort of PGY1 and PGY2 doctors assigned to them. This includes any term assessments or EPAs completed in previous terms. This supports the principle of longitudinal support and development for prevocational training, which is part of the National Framework for Prevocational Training.
- Supervising health practitioners giving feedback on Entrustable Professional Activities will only be able to see the form for the EPA that they are completing.
- Administrators will be able to see the individual learning record for all the PGY1 and PGY2 doctors they are responsible for supporting (this may be the doctors within a particular health service site or e.g. all PGY2 doctors within a local program/network). States and territories will work with accredited sites/providers to confirm arrangements for administrators.
Is CLA™ secure?
Yes. CLA™ complies with data privacy requirements including the Australian Privacy Principles and uses secure authentication mechanisms, data encryption, and access controls. CLA™ is undergoing an Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) assessment which is a comprehensive evaluation of the system's information security posture against Australian government standards. The system is anticipated to be IRAP certified by early 2025.