Competency-based residency training in pathology: challenges and opportunities.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is requiring that all medical specialties adopt a new paradigm for residency education: competency-based residency education. Competency-based education includes not only the acquisition of knowledge and the demonstration of safe medical practice, but also competency in practice-based learning, practice improvement, interpersonal skills and communication, professionalism, and an awareness of pathology's role in a larger health care system. Implementation of this new training program will require new educational resources and the implementation of new faculty and resident skills and incentives. Copyright 2002 by W.B. Saunders Company