On the Path to Competency-Based Medical Education

The Education Innovations Group (EIG) was created at Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) in January of 2016 to support residency programs transitioning into Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME). The Royal College’s brand of CBME, called Competence by Design (CBD), is based on the updated CanMEDS 2015 framework, which aims to enhance both the quality and quantity of resident assessment and learning.

Led by Dr. Susan Glover Takahashi, Director of Education, Innovation and Research, the EIG has met regularly with CBD cohort 1 Program Directors, Dr. Paolo Campisi from Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and Dr. Scott Berry from Medical Oncology to assist with the implementation of the new curriculum. The Education Innovations Group guided and supported these programs in developing curriculum and assessment maps, assessment tools, competence committee guidelines, rotation plans, and site and learner schedules; and in planning for program evaluation. Due to the novel nature of CBD, faculty and resident development has been an especially important component of implementation. In this aim, the EIG created CBD terminology reference sheets and assessment platform user-guides; and helped to organize and facilitate orientation sessions tailored to the specific needs of residents and faculty.

These initiatives, along with tremendous dedication from Dr. Campisi and Dr. Berry, paved the way for each program to successfully launch CBD field-testing on July 1, 2016. In fact, the University of Toronto’s Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery program was the only OHNS program across the country to achieve this feat. OHNS is currently field-testing four of its PGY1 Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) while Medical Oncology is field-testing seven EPAs across PGY4 and PGY5. Faculty in both programs are using an online assessment platform to assess their learners in real time.

Successful implementation of CBD is only possible through continued partnership between residency programs, their departments and the PGME office. These partnerships include working with the Royal College and the Family Medicine specialty organizations as well as key leaders at the local, provincial and national levels. The Education Innovations Group will continue to guide and support residency programs of future CBD cohorts as the new competency-based medical curriculum is rolled out over the next decade.