OBJECTIVE: To develop key features for priority topics previously identified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada that, together with skill dimensions and phases of the clinical encounter, broadly describe competence in family medicine. DESIGN: Modified nominal group methodology, which was used to develop key features for each priority topic through an iterative process. SETTING: The College of Family Physicians of Canada. PARTICIPANTS: 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 family medicine context with respect to region, sex, language, community type, and experience. METHODS: The group used a modified Delphi process to derive a detailed operational definition of competence, using multiple iterations until consensus was achieved for the items under discussion. The group met 3 to 4 times a year from 2000 to 2007. MAIN FINDINGS: The group analyzed 99 topics and generated 773 key features. There were 2 to 20 (average 7.8) key features per topic; 63% of the key features focused on the diagnostic phase of the clinical encounter. CONCLUSION: This project expands previous descriptions of the process of generating key features for assessment, and removes this process from the context of written examinations. A key-features analysis of topics focuses on higher-order cognitive processes of clinical competence. The project did not define all the skill dimensions of competence to the same degree, but it clearly identified those requiring further definition. This work generates part of a discipline-specific, competency-based definition of family medicine for assessment purposes. It limits the domain for assessment purposes, which is an advantage for the teaching and assessment of learners. A validation study on the content of this work would ensure that it truly reflects competence in family medicine.
OBJECTIVE: To develop key features for priority topics previously identified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada that, together with skill dimensions and phases of the clinical encounter, broadly describe competence in family medicine. DESIGN: Modified nominal group methodology, which was used to develop key features for each priority topic through an iterative process. SETTING: The College of Family Physicians of Canada. PARTICIPANTS: 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 family medicine context with respect to region, sex, language, community type, and experience. METHODS: The group used a modified Delphi process to derive a detailed operational definition of competence, using multiple iterations until consensus was achieved for the items under discussion. The group met 3 to 4 times a year from 2000 to 2007. MAIN FINDINGS: The group analyzed 99 topics and generated 773 key features. There were 2 to 20 (average 7.8) key features per topic; 63% of the key features focused on the diagnostic phase of the clinical encounter. CONCLUSION: This project expands previous descriptions of the process of generating key features for assessment, and removes this process from the context of written examinations. A key-features analysis of topics focuses on higher-order cognitive processes of clinical competence. The project did not define all the skill dimensions of competence to the same degree, but it clearly identified those requiring further definition. This work generates part of a discipline-specific, competency-based definition of family medicine for assessment purposes. It limits the domain for assessment purposes, which is an advantage for the teaching and assessment of learners. A validation study on the content of this work would ensure that it truly reflects competence in family medicine.
Authors: Stephen J Wetmore; Christine Rivet; Joshua Tepper; Sue Tatemichi; Michel Donoff; Paul Rainsberry Journal: Can Fam Physician Date: 2005-10 Impact factor: 3.275
Authors: Tim Allen; Carlos Brailovsky; Paul Rainsberry; Katherine Lawrence; Tom Crichton; Marie-Pierre Carpentier; Shaun Visser Journal: Can Fam Physician Date: 2011-09 Impact factor: 3.275
Authors: Michel Donoff; Kathrine Lawrence; Tim Allen; Carlos Brailovsky; Tom Crichton; Cheri Bethune; Tom Laughlin; Stephen Wetmore Journal: Can Fam Physician Date: 2012-10 Impact factor: 3.275
Authors: Stephen Wetmore; Tom Laughlin; Kathrine Lawrence; Michel Donoff; Tim Allen; Carlos Brailovsky; Tom Crichton; Cheri Bethune Journal: Can Fam Physician Date: 2012-07 Impact factor: 3.275
Authors: Tom Laughlin; Stephen Wetmore; Tim Allen; Carlos Brailovsky; Tom Crichton; Cheri Bethune; Michel Donoff; Kathrine Lawrence Journal: Can Fam Physician Date: 2012-04 Impact factor: 3.275
Authors: Lesley A Charles; Chris C Frank; Tim Allen; Tatjana Lozanovska; Marcel Arcand; Sidney Feldman; Robert E Lam; Pravinsagar G Mehta; Nadia Y Mangal Journal: Can Geriatr J Date: 2018-03-26