Healthcare educators gain crucial assessment skills on WCM-Q course

Medical education professionals convened at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) for a three-day faculty development program on assessment in competency-based medical education. 

The course, developed by the Division of Continuing Professional Development at WCM-Q, provided participants with improved understanding of the role of assessment and feedback in medical education programs which are based on the demonstration of competency and mastery of specific skills and knowledge.

Over the course of the three days, participants discussed the implications of competency-based medical education as a system, both in terms of its impact on students and instructors; learnt how to employ advanced tools for effective assessment and feedback; and explored key strategies for identifying and remediating struggling learners. Under the supervision of the course leaders, the participants also spent time learning applying techniques for improving their direct observational skills.

The speakers and facilitators of the course from WCM-Q were Deema Al-Sheikhly, lecturer of education in medicine and director of medical education and continuing professional development; Dr. Amal Khidir, associate professor of pediatrics;; Dr. Amine Rakab, assistant professor of clinical medicine and assistant dean for clinical learning; Dr. Sumeja Zahirovic, assistant professor of medicine; and Dr. Mai Mahmoud, associate professor of teaching in medicine and assistant dean for faculty affairs.

The course leaders were Ms. Al-Sheikhly and Dr. Sandra Moutsios, director of the internal medicine-pediatrics residency program and assistant professor of internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in the US. The course was designed for residency and fellowship program directors, associate program directors, and all faculty members with responsibility for the assessment of residents or fellows. 

Competency-based assessment is at the core of modern graduate medical education programs, having been developed in the US around two decades ago. Residents are required to reach a series of outcomes-based milestones by demonstrating high performance in six core competency areas, these being patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice. Being able to correctly assess achievement of these competencies, which are laid out by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), is therefore a core skill for medical education professionals.

Ms. Al-Sheikhly said: “With assessment being such an essential component of graduate medical education, this three-day course provided the participants with a great deal of extremely practical knowledge and very useful tools, which they can use in their day-to-day work. Outcomes and competency-based education in the healthcare sphere is an excellent means for optimizing patient safety and healthcare outcomes, so we are very gratified to be an ACGME regional hub that is actively involved in promoting this approach.”

The faculty development program was accredited locally by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Healthcare Professions – Accreditation Section and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).