Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
Research ArticleDebates

Rebuttal: Will the Triple C curriculum produce better family physicians?

YES

David Tannenbaum
Canadian Family Physician October 2012, 58 (10) e538;
David Tannenbaum
Chair of the Working Group on Curriculum Review of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, Family Physician-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, and President of the Ontario College of Family Physicians.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: david.tannenbaum@utoronto.ca
  • Article
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

My esteemed colleague argues1 that an absence of evidence supporting educational change precludes proceeding with new ways of doing things (including evolving toward a competency-based curriculum). Yet the traditional way of educating residents was never built on evidence. There is no doubt that educational research should be expanded (and this will hopefully be an important spinoff of the introduction of the Triple C curriculum)—in the meantime we must be willing to support innovation and the study of new methods. Success will be hard to “prove,” but the College is embarking on an evaluation of these curricular changes in an effort to identify best practices.

Dr Whitehead suggests that the only significant new aspect of the Triple C curriculum is that it is competency-based. I would suggest that the family medicine–centred component is equally important. Family medicine–centred implies ensuring that we focus training on content that is fully relevant to family medicine, and that we train residents predominantly in family medicine environments where skilled clinician-teachers, including some in focused practice, provide coaching and role modeling. (This does not preclude using highly effective “specialty” educational experiences that help residents acquire specific competencies.)

Adopting the CanMEDS–Family Medicine roles as a competency framework is viewed by my colleague as an unnecessary move away from the 4 principles of family medicine. Yet many view the CanMEDS–Family Medicine roles as far more intuitive, easier to work with, and better aligned with directions taken by the broader medical education community—and it incorporates all of the key aspects of the 4 principles.

Dr Whitehead cautions that we not lose the holistic aspects of training and become slaves to checklists and burdensome forms. Those involved in the implementation of Triple C are certainly sensitive to these concerns. The educational excellence that has evolved over many years in family medicine residency training in Canada will serve as the base from which creative educators build flexible resident-centred programs that incorporate better ways of teaching and assessing learners. Through the move to Triple C we are witnessing the development of a remarkable, cohesive community of practice among educators from the 17 medical schools and their many training sites. This synergistic alliance, supported by the College, will no doubt lead to important educational progress and stronger training programs overall.

Footnotes

  • Cet article se trouve aussi en français à la page e540.

  • Competing interests

    Dr Tannenbaum is Chair of the Working Group on Curriculum Review of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

  • These rebuttals are responses from the authors of the debates in the October issue (Can Fam Physician 2012;58:1070–3 [Eng], 1074–8 [Fr]).

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

Reference

  1. ↵
    1. Whitehead C
    . Will the Triple C curriculum produce better family physicians? No [Debate]. Can Fam Physician 2012;58:1071, 1073. (Eng), 1075, 1077–8 (Fr).
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 58 (10)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 58, Issue 10
1 Oct 2012
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Rebuttal: Will the Triple C curriculum produce better family physicians?
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Rebuttal: Will the Triple C curriculum produce better family physicians?
David Tannenbaum
Canadian Family Physician Oct 2012, 58 (10) e538;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
Rebuttal: Will the Triple C curriculum produce better family physicians?
David Tannenbaum
Canadian Family Physician Oct 2012, 58 (10) e538;
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • Reference
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Réfutation: Le cursus Triple C produira-t-il de meilleurs médecins de famille?
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Will the new opioid guidelines harm more people than they help?
  • Will the new opioid guidelines harm more people than they help?
  • Should peanut be allowed in schools?
Show more Debates

Similar Articles

Subjects

  • Collection française
    • Débats

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2023 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire