IngentaConnect Competency based teaching: the need for a new approach to teachin...

Authors: Sanson-Fisher R.W.¹; Rolfe I.E.¹; Williams N.¹

Source: Medical Teacher, Volume 27, Number 1, January 2005 , pp. 29-36(8)

Abstract:

This paper will argue that undergraduate medical courses are failing to provide students with adequate training in the area of clinical skills. Some of the reasons for this failure include changes in the health system leading to increasing commitments for clinicians, fewer patients as clinical case examples and limitations in current teaching methods. Current clinical teaching methods measure progress through completion of clinical "blocks" of learning and one-off clinical examinations. This paper offers an alternative approach to clinical teaching in undergraduate medicine. In this approach, each student's progress is measured through the attainment of a predetermined level of competency in dealing with a range of clinical conditions. Some of the benefits of a new approach to clinical teaching in undergraduate medicine include flexibility for both students and clinicians in terms of when and where clinical learning can occur, a significant emphasis on active learning, and increased generalization and integration of learning.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/01421590400019500

Affiliations: 1: Department of Health Behaviour University of Newcastle Faculty of Medicine & Health Room 267 David Maddison Building King Street Newcastle NSW 2300 Australia

The full text electronic article is available for purchase. You will be able to download the full text electronic article after payment.

$27.09 plus tax Refund Policy

Competency based teaching: the need for a new approach to teaching clinical skills in the undergraduate medical education course