Abstract
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Winston Churchill, from a speech given on 10th November 1942
I am not really one for using quotations, but this one seemed very apt. InnovAiT was launched in 2008 as a Membership benefit for the first Associates-in-Training (AiTs) of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). Rotating through the whole new curriculum for the nMRCGP on a 3 year cycle, InnovAiT aims to support and assist learning and development for general practice.
This was our remit when we launched InnovAiT in August 2007. It was a daunting task. The system of GP training had recently been overhauled and a new unfamiliar GP Curriculum with a compulsory summative nMRCGP examination had just appeared. Although we had clear ideas about the format of InnovAiT, we did not know if it would be a success. I had many doubts. Would the articles be pitched correctly for our readership? How would we source enough articles? Was the balance of articles right? I even had worries that the cover would not be eye-catching enough—or perhaps even too green. I need not have worried, for InnovAiT became an instant hit.
Three years on we have reached the end of the first cycle of InnovAiT and this issue marks the launch of Cycle 2 and the end of the beginning. So what is new for Cycle 2?
InnovAiT was conceived as a journal for AiTs. Initially it was difficult to involve AiTs at board level but we have been working to address this. Many AiTs have written articles for InnovAiT and even more have reviewed for the journal over the past 3 years. We have also made a special effort to appoint AiTs to positions on the editorial board of InnovAiT. I am delighted to say that this has paid dividends and several individuals who joined the board as AiTs will take up more senior editorial positions for Cycle 2. Patrick Hutt and Clare Taylor take up their positions this month as Deputy Editors in place of Jill Thistlethwaite, and Alice Shiner takes up her new position as Junior Editor. Other current board members who joined us as AiTs include Danielle Peet, Emma Harris, Sean McDermott and Oliver van Hecke.
Danielle Peet has written fascinating snapshots ‘From the AiT’ over the past year, but has recently become a fully fledged GP. Therefore, she has moved up to fill Clare Taylor's shoes and will now write ‘From the new GP’. We would like to welcome Claudia Newbegin who will be taking over as our new resident AiT correspondent.
We would also like to welcome our two new guest editors, Alix Rolfe and Emma Nash. These are honorary appointments that are awarded to the two individuals who have contributed the most to InnovAiT over the past year.
Amar Rughani has decided that it is time for him to step down as our regular ‘Crammer's Corner’ columnist. As Amar is such a hard act to follow, after much discussion with the Examination Committee at the RCGP, we have decided to change the format of this section. From April 2011, we would like to welcome Roger Tisi and Emma Harris to their new roles editing Crammer's Corner. They will be liaising with real RCGP examiners to produce articles that address the common problems that you might encounter when preparing for your nMRCGP examination. As an additional feature, we would like you to send us your questions about the exam. Roger and Emma will pick a question each month and aim to provide you with an answer in print. Please e-mail your questions to the InnovAiT editorial office (
ConsolidAiT will be a new section in InnovAiT for Cycle 2. With a remit to cover the entire GP Curriculum every 3 years, our articles to date have forcibly been broad overviews. Although some of these articles have gone out of date, many remain current. Each month, ConsolidAiT will provide a summary of articles published in Cycle 1 that remain useful for AiTs. When accessed online, you will be able to hyperlink to these articles from the ConsolidAiT page. In this way we will be able to cover the entire GP Curriculum in Cycle 2 but will have more space to address important topics in greater depth.
Although these are major changes, we hope that they will enhance InnovAiT and that you will still contribute your ideas, articles and reviews so that InnovAiT continues to be your journal, meeting your needs. From the whole InnovAiT team, Happy New Year and welcome to the Cycle 2 of InnovAiT!
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher, 6th Century BC