Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine Procedure skills

• Published in: Canadian family physician Vol. 58; no. 7; pp. 775 - 780
• Main Authors: Wetmore, Stephen, Laughlin, Tom, Lawrence, Kathrine, Donoff, Michel, Allen, Tim, Brailovsky, Carlos, Crichton, Tom, Bethune, Cheri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada The College of Family Physicians of Canada 01.07.2012; College of Family Physicians of Canada
• Subjects: Clinical competence; Clinical Competence - standards; Clinical medicine; Consensus; Educational Measurement - standards; Family physicians; Family Practice - education; Humans; Objectives; Performance evaluation; Studies; Mississauga Ontario Canada
• ISSN: 0008-350X; 1715-5258

To develop evaluation objectives for assessing competence in procedure skills using a key-features approach. This was part of a multiyear project to develop competency-based evaluation objectives for Certification in Family Medicine. Nominal group technique. The College of Family Physicians of Canada in Mississauga, Ont. 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 context with respect to region, sex, language, community type, and experience. Using a nominal group technique, the expert group developed the general key features for procedure skills. The expert group also linked the key features to already established skill dimensions in the domain of competence, to the 4 principles of family medicine, and to the CanMEDS roles. The general key features were developed after 5 iterations. Ten key features were outlined and were shown to reflect all the essential skill dimensions in the domain of competence for family medicine. The key features were linked to 2 of the 4 principles of family medicine and to 4 of the CanMEDS roles. The general key features for procedure skills were developed to assess competence in procedure skills in family medicine.