CONSENSUS ON CORE COMPETENCES FOR PREVENTIVE MEDICINE RESIDENTS

Of the currently available literature on assessment of physician compe tency, very little applies to the needs of preventive medicine special ists. Yet the diversity of the field and the confusion among other med ical specialists about the particular expertise of preventive medicine physicians suggest a need for consensus on fundamental competencies e xpected of graduates of preventive medicine residency training program s. We apply theoretical material on competency-based education from te acher training and instructional development to professional training in preventive medicine. We describe the process by which the Graduate Medical Education Subcommittee of the American College of Preventive M edicine (ACPM), a working group of specialists, derived and refined co re competencies in working sessions at professional meetings. The draf ts produced at these sessions were circulated widely to residency dire ctors and other individuals and groups in preventive medicine before b eing approved by the ACPM Board of Regents and included in the Residen cy Training Manual distributed by ACPM. This article includes this lis t of core competencies for preventive medicine residents. In addition, the article describes assumptions about competency development that g uided the process and identifies recurrent problems in competency deve lopment. This information may be helpful to readers who wish to develo p additional competencies or to tailor these competencies for their ow n preventive medicine residency programs.