Vestibular —
Training activity: 10

Details

Write accurate and concise reports for:

• Vestibular assessment
• Vestibular rehabilitation

Type

Entrustable training activity (ETA)

Evidence requirements

Evidence the activity has been undertaken by the trainee repeatedly, consistently, and effectively over time, in a range of situations. This may include occasions where the trainee has not successfully achieved the outcome of the activity themselves. For example, because it was not appropriate to undertake the task in the circumstances or the trainees recognised their own limitations and sought help or advice to ensure the activity reached an appropriate conclusion. ​

Reflection at multiple timepoints on the trainee learning journey for this activity.

Considerations

• Appropriate language
• Integration of test results with the clinical history
• Clear conclusions/outcomes
• Comparison of baseline measurements with any subsequent measures
• Patient-reported outcome measures

Reflective practice guidance

The guidance below is provided to support reflection at different time points, providing you with questions to aid you to reflect for this training activity. They are provided for guidance and should not be considered as a mandatory checklist. Trainees should not be expected to provide answers to each of the guidance questions listed.

Before action

• What does success look like?
  • What constitutes writing an accurate and concise report for both a full vestibular assessment and a rehabilitation plan?
  • Have you discussed expectations regarding report structure, content, and the audience for the report with your training officer?
• What is your prior experience of this activity?
  • Have you previously written vestibular assessment or rehabilitation reports?
  • What do you already know about professional report writing standards and ensuring clarity of clinical findings and recommendations?
  • What specific challenges related to summarising complex data concisely, ensuring the interpretation aligns with the differential diagnosis, or accurately conveying rehabilitation goals might you face. How might you plan to handle them?
  • What is the scope of your own practice for reporting. When will you need to seek advice or help on complex phrasing or recommendations, and from whom?
  • How do you feel about documenting clinical information in formal reports?
• What do you anticipate you will learn from the experience?
  • What specific skills in professional documentation, ensuring conciseness or structuring recommendations do you want to develop, drawing upon previous experiences?
  • What specific insights into how reports are used by other professionals in transdisciplinary teams do you hope to gain?
• What additional considerations do you need to make?
  • Have you reviewed any actions identified from your previous reflections on documentation or report writing?
  • Do you need to review departmental templates, ensuring all necessary information is included, or clarify which specific clinical details are essential for external recipients?

In action

• During the activity does anything unexpected occur?
  • Are you noticing anything surprising or different from what you anticipate while writing the report? Are you encountering situations such as:
    • Finding a discrepancy in your clinical notes or objective data that was not resolved during the appointment?
    • Encountering difficulty structuring the information clearly so that onward referral decisions are unambiguous to the receiving professional?
    • Struggling to translate complex objective data (e.g., VEMPs or vHIT results) into a concise summary for multi-disciplinary communication?
  • How does this experience compare with previous experiences of similar activities?
• How are you reacting to the unexpected development?
  • How is the unexpected development being resolved as you progress during the activity? Are you successfully managing the situation yourself (e.g., cross-referencing notes to resolve discrepancies), or do you need support (e.g., reviewing formatting guidance or consulting a colleague on professional wording)?
  • What are you learning in this moment as a result of the unexpected development? For example, are you learning a more efficient method for ensuring the report consistently links assessment findings to rehabilitation goals, or gaining increased proficiency in translating complex objective data?
  • How is this impacting your actions?
    • Are you responding to the situation appropriately (e.g., prioritising accuracy and clinical utility)? Are you adapting or changing your approach to organising information or wording sentences immediately?
    • Is this unexpected event affecting your ability to undertake the activity independently?
    • Specifically, are you immediately checking that the report clearly structures the onward referral decisions?
  • How are you feeling in this moment? For example, are you finding it difficult to adapt? Is it affecting your confidence in the clarity of your recommendations? Are you feeling positive you can reach a successful conclusion?
• What is the conclusion or outcome?
  • How are you working within your scope of practice? E.g. Are you successfully writing the clinical report, ensuring that the findings and recommendations are accurate, concise, and reflect your professional scope of practice? Are you structuring the report clearly so that onward referral decisions and management suggestions are unambiguous to the receiving professional?
  • What do you learn as a result of the unexpected development? Are you gaining increased proficiency in translating complex objective data into a clear summary suitable for multi-disciplinary communication? Are you learning a more efficient method for ensuring the report consistently links assessment findings to rehabilitation goals and functional outcomes?

On action

• What happened?
  • Begin by summarising the key points of how you wrote the accurate and concise report(s) for the vestibular assessment and/or vestibular rehabilitation.
  • Consider specific events or actions that felt important, such as ensuring accurate representation of complex findings or achieving conciseness while maintaining clarity. How did you feel during the documentation process?
  • Include any ‘reflect-in-action’ moments, where you had to adjust your writing style, structure, or content based on a review of the case or difficulties encountered while striving for accuracy.
• How has this experience contributed to your developing practice?
  • What learning can you take from writing this specific type of report (assessment or rehabilitation)?
  • What strengths did you demonstrate in writing an accurate and concise report? What skills or knowledge gaps were evident (e.g., related to summarising information, using appropriate terminology, structure, clarity)?
  • How did this experience compare against previous engagements with similar activities? Were any previous identified actions for development achieved? Has your practice improved?
  • Identify any challenges you experienced (e.g., finding the right level of detail, ensuring clarity, time constraints, integrating different pieces of information) and how you reacted to these. Did these challenges affect your ability to deal with the situation? Were you able to overcome them?
  • Was there anything significant about this activity, such as needing to seek advice or clarification on content or structure, or considering if the report accurately reflected your scope of practice?
• What will you take from this experience moving forward?
  • Identify the actions or ‘next steps’ you will now take to support the assimilation of what you have learnt, including from any feedback you received.
  • What will you do differently next time you write a vestibular assessment or rehabilitation report?
  • Has anything changed in terms of what you would do if you were faced with a similar report writing task again?
  • Do you need to practise any aspect of clinical report writing further? E.g.
    • Practising synthesising complex vestibular findings into a single, concise paragraph suitable for communication with referring physicians.
    • Developing templates or structured formats specifically designed for vestibular rehabilitation reports to ensure clarity regarding goals, outcomes, and future steps.
    • Reviewing clinical terminology and standard abbreviations specific to vestibular documentation to ensure accuracy and professionalism.
    • Seeking feedback on the flow and logic of the report structure, particularly on the link between assessment findings and subsequent rehabilitation recommendations.

Beyond action

• Have you revisited the experiences?
  • Have you revisited your previous reflections (reflect-before-action, reflect-in-action, and reflect-on-action) for this specific activity (writing reports for vestibular assessment and rehabilitation)?
  • When reviewing these past reflections, what actions for improvement did you previously identify you would need to take to improve your practice related to structuring reports for maximum clarity, concisely summarising complex test results, tailoring reports for different recipients (e.g., GP vs. Physiotherapist), or accurately detailing rehabilitation plans?
  • Have you completed these previously identified actions? If not, what are the barriers? If so, how did completing them impact your subsequent performance of this activity? Are you ready to demonstrate this new learning confidently and consistently when performing this task?
  • Have you engaged in professional storytelling or discussed your experiences of vestibular report writing with peers, near peers, or colleagues? Has discussing these experiences with others changed your view or understanding of the legal requirements of documentation, the clinical impact of clear reporting on onward management, or efficient use of reporting templates?
• How have these experiences impacted upon current practice?
  • Considering your cumulative experiences and reflections on this activity, how will the learning you have gained support you in preparing for relevant observed ‘in-person’ assessments for the module? Your improved documentation skills are fundamental for all Case-Based Discussions (CBDs), as the accurate presentation of the case history, results, and plan relies entirely on your written records and reports.
  • How has your practice related to writing accurate and concise reports developed and evolved over time across multiple instances of undertaking this training activity? Can you identify specific examples of improvement or increased confidence in efficiently producing comprehensive documentation, ensuring clinical language is appropriate, or integrating assessment and rehabilitation findings seamlessly?
  • Based on your experiences, how has your ability to recognise when something related to vestibular documentation is beyond your scope of practice improved? Do you have a clearer understanding of when and from whom (e.g., supervisor, clinical governance lead, medical legal advisor) you need to seek advice or clarification regarding unusual reporting requirements, discrepancies in patient records, or complex ethical issues relating to information sharing?

Relevant learning outcomes

#	Outcome
# 8	Outcome Prepare reports and document test findings and rehabilitation plans.