The Critical Care Logbook

Why Should you Keep a Logbook?

With the curriculum update in 2021 The FICM removed the requirement for a logbook for most training domains, but it persists for logging your procedures.

Keeping a logbook is a pain, why should you bother?

Well, keeping a logbook can be useful for:

  1. Documenting your learning experiences:

    A logbook can be used to document the cases, procedures, and experiences that you encounter during your training. This can serve as a useful reference for their future practice and also serve as an educational tool for your supervisors.

  2. Track your progress:

    Keeping a logbook can help you to track your progress over time and see how you are improving. This can be particularly useful for identifying areas where you may need additional training or support.

  3. Meet training requirements:

    The FICM requires you to keep a logbook as part of your education for sepcific asepects of the curriculum. This is to ensure that you are exposed to the required number of cases and procedures, and that you have the opportunity to gain the necessary experience before you move on to the next stage of their training.

  4. Prepare for exams:

    A logbook can be used as a study aid to help you prepare for exams. Reviewing a logbook can help you to refresh your memory of specific cases and procedures, and can help you to identify areas where you need to focus your studying

  5. Compliance with regulations and accreditation standards:

    Keeping a logbook may be required by regulatory bodies, professional colleges, and accreditation agencies in the future to ensure that you meet the standards required for the profession.

In the absence of The Faculty creating a definitive logbook solution I made this application in FileMaker a couple of years ago. It is modelled on the original RcoA Logbook prior to the release of the LLP.

I designed this logbook to:

  1. Be fast and not dependent on an internet connection.
  2. Enable you to log your activity in a couple of seconds.
  3. To be fully customisable in terms of the data you can enter.
  4. To easily generate reports needed for ARCP and Revalidation.
  5. Be as user friendly as possible, however a guide is provided below for support.

The caveats I provide with it are:

  1. This app is provided as is, there is no warranty and no guarantee of support beyond what is on this page.
  2. It will only work on iOS devices.

Downloading The Critical Care Logbook

The Critical Care Logbook is based upon the Claris Filemaker Platform. To step up The Logbook on your device you need to:

  1. Navigate to this page on your iPhone/iPad if you are not already using that device.
  2. Download FileMaker Go from The App Store then return to this page.
  3. Download The Critical Care Logbook.
  4. When presented with options of what to do with the downloaded file, select "Open in FileMaker Go"
  5. The Logbook will open and be ready for you to start collecting data.

Entering Data

  1. From the home screen, select the type of care episode you wish to log. This will take you to the relevent input screen.

    An image of The Logbook Main Menu
    Select the care episode you wish to log, highlighted in red.

  2. Complete the required data. Do not save patient identifiable information. Completing "The Notes" is not mandatory, but can be useful for activity reports later on.

    An image of data entry screen
    Some fields will auto-populate. Within the drop-downs you can edit the available options.

  3. Check that the associated HiLLO's are correct for the case, tap a HiLLO to associate it. Green is associated, red is not.

    An image of the available HiLLO's
    Choose which HiLLO's are applicable. The most relevent are selected by default.

  4. Once you've finished entering your data, select the navigation option you require.

Generating Reports

  1. Select "Reports" from the main menu to enter the "Reports" area.

    An image of The Logbook Reports Area
    If you haven't generated reports before, select placement details.

  2. Complete placement details as you would like them to appear on your reports.

    An image of The Placement Details Area
    Complete all the details.

  3. Enter the dates you would like to use cases from and to, then select the type of report you would like to generate.

    An image of a HiLLO Report.
    Use the HiLLO drop-down to generate reports for individual HiLLO's

  4. Reports are generated as pdf's with the standard iOS options available for their sharing and manipulation. Select "Done" when you're finished

    An image of a HiLLO Report.
    Reports can be saved to the cloud or emailed using the in-built iOS file handling capabilities.

Ongoing Development and Support

If you have any problems or can think of features that would be useful in the future please contact

Logbook Support .