Innovative changes happening at medical schools across the country will produce future physicians with entirely different needs. As a result, graduate medical education (GME) and continuing medical education (CME) will need to make changes, too, medical education leaders said at a recent Association of Hospital Medical Education meeting.
The AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative is helping 11 medical schools make major changes to their curriculum. These 11 schools are shifting to competency-based assessment, incorporating more interprofessional education, integrating electronic health records (EHR) into education, placing emphasis on quality and patient safety and developing digital student portfolios, among other changes. Physicians of the future are going to be accustomed to individualized learning plans, heavy integration of technology and built-in assessment tools – so GME and CME curriculum will need to incorporate these changes to serve future physicians.
“Physicians coming to CME events will be expecting more,” said Mellie Pouwels, vice president of academic programs and services for the American Board of Medical Specialties. “They’ll expect content that is data-driven and with data-based outcomes … students will expect more on-demand information as they emerge from these new medical schools.”
To accommodate these new learners, GME and CME programs will need to implement new faculty development methods that allow for individualized learning, evidence assessment and performance data collection and interpretation.
“Residents are coming in with different skill sets,” said Steven Craig, MD, assistant dean for student affairs and curriculum at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. “They’re more involved in interprofessional education and leadership.”
All this change presents some challenges, however. Financial resources will be needed to implement new models, especially with new technology and faculty training. There’s also some worry that faculty development will take time away from patient care.
Still, there is improvement on the horizon. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Pathways to Excellence program is one example. CLER assesses the GME learning environment at a particular institution and evaluates quality and patient safety, transitions in care and more. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education is currently evolving its Accreditation with Commendation distinction to reflect changes in the health care environment and include individualized learning, interprofessional collaboration and incorporation of health data.
The AMA will continue to work with GME and CME stakeholders to create change in medical education and help educate physicians of the future.
