Medical education is evolving. The didactic, lecture-based form of schooling that filled the heads of young doctors with information for later recall is now shifting to an action-oriented discipline. Trainees are no longer asked simply to list the characteristics of a disease, or the steps in diagnosing it, or the options for treating it. Instead, they’re asked what they would do with that knowledge – a new type of teaching known as “competency-based medical education,” or CBME. Why is the nature of medical education changing so fundamentally after a century of the established methods? How are trainees responding to this radical shift in the way they’re being taught? And what, ultimately, are the benefits to the most important person in the healthcare system – the patient? Expert medical educators share their experiences with CBME – its promise, its pitfalls, and its potential to turn the future of medical school on its head...
The Competency Changeover
Medical education is no longer about what you know, but what you do with it