By Jonathan Sherbino (@sherbino)
Conferences, journal editorials, the blogosphere etc. is filled with talk of CBME as the wave of the future. And it sounds promising doesn’t it … competency-based medical education? With the challenges facing medicine, we need a robust and flexible education system, a system where time is an educational resource and not an organizing framework.
Earlier this year, The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada launched Competence by Design (CBD), a multi-year change initiative to introduce a CBME model to resident training and specialty practice in Canada. (For more details about Competence By Design, click here.) With the help of its partners, the Royal College intends for Canada to be the first jurisdiction in the world to integrate CBME across the full medical education continuum (UG, PG and CPD).
A first priority of the Royal College is to align the current CanMEDS framework with the principles of CBME by 2015. The Royal College and its partners are mounting a major consultation process; everyone is invited to weigh in and help shape CanMEDS 2015. (Click here to read more) While the Roles will remain the same, competencies under-represented in the 2005 framework (e.g. patient safety, ehealth etc.) will be emphasized. Every competency will be refined to reflect a current practice of medicine. Finally, milestones will be added, providing an instructional scaffold (e.g. logical structure to guide both learners and faculty in achieving complex competencies) for each competency, based on the principles of CBME.
So, what do you think about refining and updating the CanMEDS Framework? Leave a comment below or contact the Royal College. canmeds@royalcollege.ca.
Icicle image by Vitolef via FreeDigitialPhotos.net
