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Specific Competencies (specific + competency)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Portfolios: Possibilities for Addressing Emergency Medicine Resident Competencies

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2002
Patricia O'Sullivan EdD
Portfolios are an innovative approach to evaluate the competency of emergency medicine residents. Three key characteristics add to their attractiveness. First, portfolios draw from the resident's actual work. Second, they require self-reflection on the part of the resident. Third, they are inherently practice-based learning since residents must review and consider their practice in order to begin the portfolio. This paper illustrates five different applications of portfolios. First, portfolios are applied to evaluating specific competencies as part of the training of emergency physicians. While evaluating specific competencies, the portfolio captures aspects of the general competencies. Second, the article illustrates using portfolios as a way to address a specific residency review committee (RRC) requirement such as follow-ups. Third is a description of how portfolios can be used to evaluate resident conferences capturing the competency of practice-based learning and possibly other competencies such as medical knowledge and patient care. Fourth, the authors of the article designed a portfolio as a way to demonstrate clinical competence. Fifth, they elaborate as to how a continuous quality improvement project could be cast within the portfolio framework. They provide some guidance concerning issues to address when designing the portfolios. Portfolios are carefully structured and not haphazard collections of materials. Following criteria is important in maintaining the validity of the portfolio as well as contributing to reliability. The portfolios can enhance the relationship between faculty and residents since faculty will suggest cases, discuss anomalies, and interact with the residents around the portfolio. The authors believe that in general portfolios can cover many of the general competencies specified by the ACGME while still focusing on issues important to emergency medicine. The authors believe that portfolios provide an approach to evaluation commensurate with the self-evaluation skills they would like to develop in their residents. [source]

Assessing competency in nursing: a comparison of nurses prepared through degree and diploma programmes

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 1 2005
Michael Clinton MSc
Aims and objectives., The present study aimed to investigate the competencies of qualifiers from three-year degree and three-year diploma courses in England at one, two and three years after qualification. Background., The provision of three-year preregistration nursing degrees in the UK has increased in recent years and in many colleges degrees are offered alongside the existing three-year diploma courses. Yet little is known about the relationship between these different education programmes and the competence of qualifiers. Methods., A cross-sectional survey design was employed to make comparisons of both self-reported and line-manager-rated competencies of graduate and diplomate nurses who had qualified up to three years previously. Instruments., A revised version of the Nursing Competencies Questionnaire was used to measure both overall competence and also eight specific nursing competencies. A shortened version of this scale was also used to assess internal consistency across measures. Two additional competencies, research awareness and policy awareness, were also measured. Results., Structural equation modelling found very little difference in the overall competence and specific competencies of graduates and diplomates. Where differences were found in the self-report data, diplomates scored more highly than graduates in the constructs of planning and social participation; however, these differences became non-significant when background variables were controlled for. Limitations., The findings are interpreted with caution due to the size of differences, the size of some of the samples of respondents and the developmental stage of the instrument used. Conclusions., It does not appear that graduates and diplomates in England differ in their level of competence to any great extent as measured by the Nursing Competencies Questionnaire. Areas of further work are discussed in the light of the findings. Relevance to clinical practice., While this may alleviate concerns about clinical disparities between the two groups, it raises questions about the proposed benefits to nursing of three-year preregistration degrees in terms of quality of care during the first three years of qualification. [source]

Using job analysis to identify core and specific competencies: implications for selection and recruitment

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 12 2008
Fiona Patterson
Objective, Modern postgraduate medical training requires both accurate and reliable selection procedures. An essential first step is to conduct detailed job analysis studies. This paper reports data on a series of job analyses to develop a competency model for three secondary care specialties (anaesthesia, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatrics). Methods, Three independent job analysis studies were conducted. The content validity of the resulting competency domains was tested using a questionnaire-based study with specialty trainees (specialist registrars [SpRs]) and consultants drawn from the three specialties. Job analysis was carried out in the Yorkshire and the Humber region in the UK. The validation study was administered with additional participants from the West Midlands and Trent regions in the UK. This was an exploratory study. The outcome is a set of competency domains with data on their importance at senior house officer, SpR and consultant grade in each specialty. Results, The study produced a model comprising 14 general competency domains that were common to all the three specialties. However, there were significant between-specialty differences in both definitions of domains and the ratings of importance attached to them. Conclusions, The results indicate that a wide range of attributes beyond clinical knowledge and academic achievement need to be considered in order to ensure doctors train and work within a specialty for which they have a particular aptitude. This has significant implications for developing selection criteria for specialty training. Future research should explore the content validity of these competency domains in other secondary care specialties. [source]

Knowledge is no longer enough: Enhancing professional education with team-based learning

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 116 2008
Jim Sibley
Professional schools must cultivate specific competencies within their students in order to prepare them for their professions, and these competencies are changing. Team-based learning is ideally suited to meet the demands placed on professional schools as they confront new challenges. [source]