In the Yeung et al1 commentary in the September issue of Canadian Family Physician, the authors outline their search strategy for material related to “prognosis” in the CanMEDS–Family Medicine material available from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). Yeung et al1 lament its apparent absence from our stated competency goals because, as they point out, these materials are a curriculum resource for training programs. They also underline the importance of “prognosis” in palliative care, and suggest that its absence might partially explain the lack of sufficient emphasis on palliative care training in family medicine programs.
I want to remind readers and future authors that the CFPC has more than 1 official document on competencies as guides for training. The report on evaluation objectives,2 first published by the College’s Working Group on the Certification Process and distributed to the programs in 2010, is readily available on the CFPC website.2 The report includes discussions on the priority topics and key features for assessment of competence in family medicine, as well as detailed operational definitions of communication skills, professionalism, and patient-centredness that are useful for the assessment of competence in family medicine. A word search similar to that conducted by Yeung et al1 for terms related to prognosis in the report2 results in 6 citations: there is 1 in each of the 6 different priority topics. Also, palliative care is a separate priority topic, with its own specific key features.
The CFPC does therefore outline some specific directions regarding the importance of prognosis and palliative care in determining the competence of family physicians. Program members are aware of this and have already developed strategies to teach and assess competence in these 2 important concepts. Authors are encouraged to consult all relevant CFPC reports before reaching conclusions about the educational priorities of the College.
Footnotes
Competing interests
Dr Crichton is Chair of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Working Group on the Certification Process.
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