Article Green Open Access 2021

Questioning medical competence: Should the Covid-19 crisis affect the goals of medical education?

Medical Teacher
Journal · Vol. 43 · Issue 7 · pp. 817-823
Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many societal institutions, including health care and education. Although the pandemic’s impact was initially assumed to be temporary, there is growing conviction that medical education might change more permanently. The International Competency-based Medical Education (ICBME) collaborators, scholars devoted to improving physician training, deliberated how the pandemic raises questions about medical competence. We formulated 12 broad-reaching issues for discussion, grouped into micro-, meso-, and macro-level questions. At the individual micro level, we ask questions about adaptability, coping with uncertainty, and the value and limitations of clinical courage. At the institutional meso level, we question whether curricula could include more than core entrustable professional activities (EPAs) and focus on individualized, dynamic, and adaptable portfolios of EPAs that, at any moment, reflect current competence and preparedness for disasters. At the regulatory and societal macro level, should conditions for licensing be reconsidered? Should rules of liability be adapted to match the need for rapid redeployment? We do not propose a blueprint for the future of medical training but rather aim to provoke discussions needed to build a workforce that is competent to cope with future health care crises. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

curriculum learning outcomes outcome-based

Index Keywords

clinical competence human medical education Humans Internship and Residency curriculum motivation COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Education, Medical competency-based education Goals pandemic Pandemics
Author Affiliations
Center for Research and Development of Education, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Université McGill, Montreal, QC, Canada
Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, D.C., United States
Department of Psychiatry, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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