Robert Englander

Shifting Paradigms: From Flexner to Competencies.

Realizing medical education is on the brink of a major paradigm shift from structure- and process-based to competency-based education and measurement of outcomes, the authors reviewed the existing medical literature to provide practical insight into how to accomplish full implementation and evaluation of this new paradigm. They searched Medline and the Educational Resource Information Clearinghouse from the 1960s until the present, reviewed the titles and abstracts of the 469 articles the search produced, and chose 68 relevant articles for full review. The authors found that in the 1970s and 1980s much attention was given to the need for and the development of professional competencies for many medical disciplines. Little attention, however, was devoted to defining the benchmarks of specific competencies, how to attain them, or the evaluation of competence. Lack of evaluation strategies was likely one of the forces responsible for the three-decade lag between initiation of the movement and wide-spread adoption. Lessons learned from past experiences include the importance of strategic planning and faculty and learner buy-in for defining competencies. In addition, the benchmarks for defining competency and the thresholds for attaining competence must be clearly delineated. The development of appropriate assessment tools to measure competence remains the challenge of this decade, and educators must be responsible for studying the impact of this paradigm shift to determine whether its ultimate effect is the production of more competent physicians.

Toward a Common Taxonomy of Competency Domains for the Health Professions and Competencies for Physicians

Although health professions worldwide are shifting to competency-based education, no common taxonomy for domains of competence and specific competencies currently exists. In this article, the authors describe their work to (1) identify domains of competence that could accommodate any health care profession and (2) extract a common set of competencies for physicians from existing health professions’ competency frameworks that would be robust enough to provide a single, relevant infrastructure for curricular resources in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC’s) MedEdPORTAL and Curriculum Inventory and Reports (CIR) sites. The authors used the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)/American Board of Medical Specialties six domains of competence and 36 competencies delineated by the ACGME as their foundational reference list. They added two domains described by other groups after the original six domains were introduced: Interprofessional Collaboration (4 competencies) and Personal and Professional Development (8 competencies). They compared the expanded reference list (48 competencies within eight domains) with 153 competency lists from across the medical education continuum, physician specialties and subspecialties, countries, and health care professions. Comparison analysis led them to add 13 “new” competencies and to conflate 6 competencies into 3 to eliminate redundancy. The AAMC will use the resulting “Reference List of General Physician Competencies” (58 competencies in eight domains) to categorize resources for MedEdPORTAL and CIR. The authors hope that researchers and educators within medicine and other health professions will consider using this reference list when applicable to move toward a common taxonomy of competencies.

Evaluating competence using a portfolio: A literature review and web-based application to the ACGME competencies

Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is shifting its focus from a structure and process system of graduate medical education to one that is outcomes based, requiring all residents in training to achieve competence in six broad domains and presenting educators with the challenge of evaluation. Summary: We searched the literature and reviewed all articles relating to portfolio assessment in medicine. In addition, we reviewed articles that addressed standard tools currently in use for resident performance assessment. The use of a portfolio allows one to incorporate a variety of assessment tools needed to evaluate the diverse domains of competence and also fosters reflective learning, which is key to professional development. From lessons learned through this review, we developed a Web-based evaluation portfolio for residency training that we describe here in the hope of facilitating this process for others. Conclusions: Web-based portfolio assessment provides an ideal venue for the evaluation of competence and has the ability to provide educators with a research infrastructure to practice evidence-based education.

Entrustment Decision Making in Clinical Training

The decision to trust a medical trainee with the critical responsibility to care for a patient is fundamental to clinical training. When carefully and deliberately made, such decisions can serve as significant stimuli for learning and also shape the assessment of trainees. Holding back entrustment decisions too much may hamper the trainee’s development toward unsupervised practice. When carelessly made, however, they jeopardize patient safety. Entrustment decision-making processes, therefore, deserve careful analysis. Members (including the authors) of the International Competency-Based Medical Education Collaborative conducted a content analysis of the entrustment decision-making process in health care training during a two-day summit in September 2013 and subsequently reviewed the pertinent literature to arrive at a description of the critical features of this process, which informs this article. The authors discuss theoretical backgrounds and terminology of trust and entrustment in the clinical workplace. The competency-based movement and the introduction of entrustable professional activities force educators to rethink the grounds for assessment in the workplace. Anticipating a decision to grant autonomy at a designated level of supervision appears to align better with health care practice than do most current assessment practices. The authors distinguish different modes of trust and entrustment decisions and elaborate five categories, each with related factors, that determine when decisions to trust trainees are made: the trainee, supervisor, situation, task, and the relationship between trainee and supervisor. The authors’ aim in this article is to lay a theoretical foundation for a new approach to workplace training and assessment.

Advancing competency-based medical education: A charter for clinician-educators

The International Competency-Based Medical Education (ICBME) Collaborators have been working since 2009 to promote understanding of competency-based medical education (CBME) and accelerate its uptake worldwide. This article presents a charter, supported by a literature-based rationale, which is meant to provide a shared mental model of CBME that will serve as a path forward in its widespread implementation.At a 2013 summit, the ICBME Collaborators laid the groundwork for this charter. Here, the fundamental principles of CBME and professional responsibilities of medical educators in its implementation process are described. The authors outline three fundamental principles: (1) Medical education must be based on the health needs of the populations served; (2) the primary focus of education and training should be the desired outcomes for learners rather than the structure and process of the educational system; and (3) the formation of a physician should be seamless across the continuum of education, training, and practice.Building on these principles, medical educators must demonstrate commitment to teaching, assessing, and role modeling the range of identified competencies. In the clinical setting, they must provide supervision that balances patient safety with the professional development of learners, being transparent with stakeholders about level of supervision needed. They must use effective and efficient assessment strategies and tools for basing transition decisions on competence rather than time in training, empowering learners to be active participants in their learning and assessment. Finally, advancing CBME requires program evaluation and research, faculty development, and a collaborative approach to realize its full potential.

Toward Defining the Foundation of the MD Degree: Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency.

Currently, no standard defines the clinical skills that medical students must demonstrate upon graduation. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education bases its standards on required subject matter and student experiences rather than on observable educational outcomes. The absence of such established outcomes for MD graduates contributes to the gap between program directors’ expectations and new residents’ performance. In response, in 2013, the Association of American Medical Colleges convened a panel of experts from undergraduate and graduate medical education to define the professional activities that every resident should be able to do without direct supervision on day one of residency, regardless of specialty. Using a conceptual framework of entrustable professional activities (EPAs), this Drafting Panel reviewed the literature and sought input from the health professions education community. The result of this process was the publication of 13 core EPAs for entering residency in 2014. Each EPA includes a description, a list of key functions, links to critical competencies and milestones, and narrative descriptions of expected behaviors and clinical vignettes for both novice learners and learners ready for entrustment. The medical education community has already begun to develop the curricula, assessment tools, faculty development resources, and pathways to entrustment for each of the 13 EPAs. Adoption of these core EPAs could significantly narrow the gap between program directors’ expectations and new residents’ performance, enhancing patient safety and increasing residents’, educators’, and patients’ confidence in the care these learners provide in the first months of their residency training.

Predictors of ventriculoperitoneal shunt pathology.

Background. Diagnosis of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt pathology remains a dilemma in patients with nonspecific constitutional signs and symptoms. Eosinophilia has been described in association with shunt infection and malfunction. Our purpose was to further define the relationship of eosinophilia and shunt pathology and to determine other predictors of VP shunt infection and malfunction. Methods. Records of all patients admitted with a suspected VP shunt infection or malfunction were reviewed. The following data were abstracted: age; reason for and age at initial shunt placement; number of revisions; date of last revision; history of fever or vomiting; ventricular fluid cell count; differential and culture; complete blood count and differential; need for shunt revision or replacement; and use of antibiotics. After exclusion of patients admitted for initial shunt placement, the remainder were divided into three groups: those with shunt infection; those with shunt malfunction; and those without documented infection or malfunction. Results. Of 12 patients with shunt infection and 69 with shunt malfunction, 2 and 11, respectively, had eosinophilia defined as ≥5%. The presence of eosinophilia had a 96% positive predictive value for shunt pathology and raised the pretest probability of pathology from 84% to a post test probability of 96%. The combination of fever history and ventricular fluid neutrophils >10% had a 99% specificity for shunt infection, had a 93 and 95% positive and negative predictive value, respectively, and raised the pretest probability of infection from 12% to a posttest probability of 92%. Conclusions. In patients suspected of having a VP shunt malfunction, the presence of ≥5% eosinophils in the ventricular fluid indicates shunt pathology. The combination of fever and ventricular fluid neutrophils >10% is predictive of shunt infection.

Defining the role of the pediatric critical care nurse practitioner in a tertiary care center

Objective To describe the development and implementation of a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner role in a tertiary academic pediatric intensive care unit. Data Sources Selected relevant articles from the literature. Data Extraction/Synthesis Over the past two decades, the role of critical care nurse practitioners in neonatal and adult settings has developed. More recently, the role has emerged in the setting of pediatric critical care. Literature to date focuses on implementation of the nurse practitioner role in neonatal and adult critical care units, with limited publications on the role in the pediatric critical care arena. In addition, information on the practice of critical care nurse practitioners in tertiary care centers is lacking. We therefore, sought to describe the design, implementation, scope of practice, and outcomes to date of a pediatric nurse practitioner program in our pediatric critical care unit. Conclusions A pediatric critical care nurse practitioner role can be implemented successfully in a tertiary center’s pediatric intensive care unit. However, before integration of the pediatric critical care nurse practitioner into the health care team, definition of entry level requirements and the overall role with respect to scope of practice, daily operations, and professional practice is essential. Future endeavors should include evaluation of the impact of the pediatric critical care nurse practitioner on patient outcomes in the tertiary care center.

A call to action: The controversy of and rationale for competency-based medical education

Abstract Although medical education has enjoyed many successes over the last century, there is a recognition that health care is too often unsafe and of poor quality. Errors in diagnosis and treatment, communication breakdowns, poor care coordination, inappropriate use of tests and procedures, and dysfunctional collaboration harm patients and families around the world. These issues reflect on our current model of medical education and raise the question: Are physicians being adequately prepared for twenty-first century practice? Multiple reports have concluded the answer is “no.” Concurrent with this concern is an increasing interest in competency-based medical education (CBME) as an approach to help reform medical education. The principles of CBME are grounded in providing better and safer care. As interest in CBME has increased, so have criticisms of the movement. This article summarizes and addresses objections and challenges related to CBME. These can provide valuable feedback to improve CBME implementation and avoid pitfalls. We strongly believe medical education reform should not be reduced to an “either/or” approach, but should blend theories and approaches to suit the needs and resources of the populations served. The incorporation of milestones and entrustable professional activities within existing competency frameworks speaks to the dynamic evolution of CBME, which should not be viewed as a fixed doctrine, but rather as a set of evolving concepts, principles, tools, and approaches that can enable important reforms in medical education that, in turn, enable the best outcomes for patients.

Driving Care Quality: Aligning Trainee Assessment and Supervision Through Practical Application of Entrustable Professional Activities, Competencies, and Milestones.

To address the long-standing challenge of meaningful trainee assessment, the authors reviewed and expanded on the Accountable Assessment for Quality Care and Supervision (AAQCS) equation. The equation proposes that care quality is the product of the interaction between trainee performance (measured by workplace assessment) and supervision (required level of intervention to ensure care quality) in the context of the environment where the care occurs: Trainee performance × Appropriate supervision = Safe, effective patient-centered care. Assessing trainee performance and matching that performance to “appropriate” supervision, however, is fraught with challenges. The authors suggest a unifying framework that integrates entrustable professional activities (EPAs), competencies, and milestones to inform trainee assessment and supervision, thereby enabling the practical application of the AAQCS equation in the workplace. Because the unit of measure for an EPA is the outcome of whether the trainee can safely and effectively perform the professional activity without supervision, the proposed unifying framework directly aligns with the dependent variable in the AAQCS equation: care quality. The value of applying a unifying framework that integrates EPAs, competencies, and milestones to the AAQCS equation in the clinical learning environment lies in its ability to provide supervisors with a shared mental model of performance expectations for trainees, reducing unwanted variability and improving assessment accuracy; guidance for aligning performance milestones of trainees with the needed level of supervisor intervention to ensure care quality; and substrate for specific feedback to improve the trainee’s professional development as a way to ensure future care quality.