Frequently Asked Question

When you have completed a procedure that requires more than one step (often spread across a number of patient visits) such as a Bridge, Crown, Denture or RCT etc you need to tell the Portfolio you have completed it so it counts towards the relevant target.

The Portfolio calls these “Multistep Procedures” and by claiming the completed procedure it recognises the fact that carrying out all of the steps on a single patient has additional opportunities for learning than caring out the same steps spread across a number of different patients.

Once you have completed the last step (or the last step you are able to complete - see below) you should claim the completed procedure via the Multistep Procedures menu as follows:

NB You should claim each procedure one at a time - e.g. if you have done 2 crowns on the same patient these would need to be claimed separately.

1) Select the Multistep Procedures menu item on the left and click "Complete a Multistep Procedure"

2) Select the type of procedure you have completed from the dropdown menu then enter your patient number. After you have clicked Next, the Portfolio will display a list of the treatments that can count towards the procedure you have selected.

3) Select all of the treatments that you want to include in your claim from the list on the left. If you have entries for more than one procedure (e.g. you have completed 2 crowns) make sure you only select the relevant steps for one of them and then claim the other separately.

As you select your treatments the Portfolio will try and help you with any data entry errors e.g.

• Teeth haven't been selected for a treatment
• Wrong teeth are selected (e.g. the obturation and access are on different teeth)
• Date sequencing problems (e.g. Your fit date is before your primary impression)

It will also display a check-list in the bottom corner listing all of the sub-steps it is expecting for that procedure and how many of each you have selected. If you are not able to select a procedure for every mandatory step, you should proceed as normal selecting what you can - you can appeal for the multistep to be awarded even if steps are missing.

NB the Portfolio can't automatically award a completed multistep if any procedures are displaying errors, there are missing compulsory steps or warnings. Where possible you should always correct any errors that it identifies before submitting.

4) Once you have selected all of the relevant treatments, click Next, then the Portfolio will apply the rules and attempt to automatically award the completed procedure:

• If it can do so, it will offer you a grade for the completed procedure. This is based on the lowest grade from the sub-steps. If you are happy with this, click “Accept” then the completed procedure will be added to your totals.
• If a completed procedure can’t be awarded automatically, or if you are not happy with the grade the Portfolio is offering, you can enter an appeal for review by a clinical tutor.

NB A video guide to correctly entering multi-step procedures is available in the Portfolio Training in Blackboard

Appealing a Multi-step procedure

When appealing a multistep procedure you must provide a well reasoned justification and the grade you would like to receive if your appeal is successful. In all cases, the Portfolio is applying the rules that have been determined by the Academic Unit of Restorative Dentistry for each procedure and tutors will be shown the same notices and warnings that it is displaying to you. Therefore, you must convince the reviewing tutor that an exception to these rules should be made in your case. NB Any appeals caused by inaccurate data entry and identified in warning messages provided by the Portfolio will normally be automatically rejected by tutors.

Entering a good justification

A requirement for graduation is that you are a reflective practitioner and in your appeal justifications we expect to see a reflective and well supported argument for why the normal rules should be overridden.

If you are appealing to increase your grade from that of the lowest contributing procedure you should explain why this should be done. Were there any particular complications that meant your tutor needed to provide more help, reducing the grade awarded for that step; how did you learn from this and what will you do differently next time as a result? Simply saying “on average” I should be given a higher grade is insufficient because it can be argued that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

If you are appealing because you weren’t able to carry out or missed a particular step, what were the reasons? Was there a clinical reason this particular step was not needed? Perhaps you did all the work apart from one step and feel you should still be awarded the completed procedure - maybe you could explain how you have carried out this step on another patient and discuss some of the similarities and differences between the cases? If a patient did not return for a review visit, what steps did you take to encourage them to do so?

As mentioned above, you are trying to convince a tutor that an exception to the rules should be made so help them by providing good reasons. Additionally, the reflection against each of the sub-steps may also be reviewed - if your appeal references contemporaneous notes and reflection made at the time for that sub-step then this will further strengthen your case and repay the effort you made at the time to record meaningful reflection at the time.