RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine
JF Canadian Family Physician
JO Can Fam Physician
FD The College of Family Physicians of Canada
SP e373
OP e380
VO 57
IS 10
A1 Kathrine Lawrence
A1 Tim Allen
A1 Carlos Brailovsky
A1 Tom Crichton
A1 Cheri Bethune
A1 Michel Donoff
A1 Tom Laughlin
A1 Stephen Wetmore
A1 Marie-Pierre Carpentier
A1 Shaun Visser
YR 2011
UL http://www.cfp.ca/content/57/10/e373.abstract
AB Objective To develop key features for priority topics previously identified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada that, together with skill dimensions and phases of the clinical encounter, broadly describe competence in family medicine. Design Modified nominal group methodology, which was used to develop key features for each priority topic through an iterative process. Setting The College of Family Physicians of Canada. Participants An expert group of 7 family physicians and 1 educational consultant, all of whom had experience in assessing competence in family medicine. Group members represented the Canadian family medicine context with respect to region, sex, language, community type, and experience. Methods The group used a modified Delphi process to derive a detailed operational definition of competence, using multiple iterations until consensus was achieved for the items under discussion. The group met 3 to 4 times a year from 2000 to 2007. Main findings The group analyzed 99 topics and generated 773 key features. There were 2 to 20 (average 7.8) key features per topic; 63% of the key features focused on the diagnostic phase of the clinical encounter. Conclusion This project expands previous descriptions of the process of generating key features for assessment, and removes this process from the context of written examinations. A key-features analysis of topics focuses on higher-order cognitive processes of clinical competence. The project did not define all the skill dimensions of competence to the same degree, but it clearly identified those requiring further definition. This work generates part of a discipline-specific, competency-based definition of family medicine for assessment purposes. It limits the domain for assessment purposes, which is an advantage for the teaching and assessment of learners. A validation study on the content of this work would ensure that it truly reflects competence in family medicine.