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The Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions was first convened in 1985 in Ottawa. Since then, what has become known as the Ottawa conference has been held in various locations around the world every 2 years. It has become an important conference for the community of assessment – including researchers, educators, administrators and leaders – to share contemporary knowledge and develop international standards for assessment in medical and health professions education. The Ottawa 2022 conference was held in Lyon, France, in conjunction with the AMEE 2022 conference. A diverse group of international assessment experts were invited to present a symposium at the AMEE conference to summarise key concepts from the Ottawa conference. This paper was developed from that symposium. This paper summarises key themes and issues that emerged from the Ottawa 2022 conference. It highlights the importance of the consensus statements and discusses challenges for assessment such as issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, shifts in emphasis to systems of assessment, implications of 'big data' and analytics, and challenges to ensure published research and practice are based on contemporary theories and concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an arts integrated interdisciplinary study set to investigate ways to improve social accountability (SA) in medical education, our research team has established a renewed understanding of compassion in the current SA movement. This paper explores the co-evolution of compassion and SA. The study used an arts integrated approach to investigate people's perceptions of SA in four medical schools across Australia, Canada, and the USA. Each school engaged approximately 25 participants who partook in workshops and in-depth interviews. We began with a study of SA and the topic of compassion emerged out of our qualitative data and biweekly meetings within the research team. Content analysis of the data and pedagogical discussion brought us to realize the importance of compassion in the practice of SA. The cultivation of compassion needs to play a significant role in a socially accountable medical educational system. Medical schools as educational institutions may operate themselves with compassion as a driving force in engaging partnership with students and communities. Social accountability without compassion is not SA; compassion humanizes institutional policy by engaging sympathy and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island (North America) experience ongoing health disparities tied to the effects of colonization and persistent racism toward Indigenous Peoples. Educating future clinicians to develop a critical consciousness is an important way to work toward cultural safety and improve the health care experiences of Indigenous patients. The present study evaluated the ability of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) to foster critical consciousness. Two hundred thirteen medical students at the University of Toronto participated in the KBE. Subsequently, 174 students completed a paper evaluation, designed to capture concepts of cultural safety and critical consciousness. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods to identify shifts in perspectives. The majority of students reported the exercise altered the way they viewed those from backgrounds different from their own, and comments regarding bias, power and privilege were highlighted throughout the responses. Engaging in critical reflection through dialogue and revealing the complex sociopolitical context of Indigenous Peoples' history were emphasized as central to this transformation. Following participation in the KBE, medical students demonstrated a shift in their perspectives. This suggests that creating curricular space for critical pedagogy may be effective in fostering critical consciousness, ultimately encouraging reflexive practice and social action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the numerous challenges resident trainees currently face in their ability to competently acquire the requisite skills, knowledge and attitudes upon graduation, medical educators have looked to a competency-based medical education (CBME) approach as a possible solution. As CBME has already been implemented in many jurisdictions around the world, certain challenges in implementation have been experienced. One important challenge identified relates to how regulatory bodies can either assist or unintentionally hinder implementation. By examining the varied experiences from Canada, the USA and the Netherlands in implementing CBME, this paper identifies how regulatory bodies can support and advance worldwide efforts of furthering its implementation. If regulatory bodies restructure accreditation and regulatory criteria to align with CBME principles, work together in a coordinated fashion to ensure alignment of vital regulatory meaures throughout the training and practice continuum of a physician, and allow for (if not incentivize) individuals and programs to be innovative in adapting CBME to meet their local environments, it is likely that the worldwide implementation of CBME will occur successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the competitive examination culture that pervaded medical education in the 1940s and 1950s the founders of McMaster University's new MD Programme created an assessment system based on group functioning within the tutorial. While the tutorial has served the educational process well, 30 years of experience has highlighted its deficiencies as an assessment tool. This paper describes the accumulation of evidence that led to the awareness of the weakness of tutorial assessment and the attempts to provide reliable assessment by the reintroduction of examinations, but in novel formats which would not alter the goals of the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) identified the discipline of medical humanities as a priority in medical education. Although medical humanities programs have existed in medical and osteopathic schools in the U.S. and Canada since the late 1960's, this interdisciplinary field remains difficult to define. We studied the mission statements of medical humanities programs to identify core themes and priorities. We conducted a content analysis of U.S. and Canada medical humanities MD and DO mission statements and associated descriptions (n = 56). We compared themes across programs whose directors had a clinical degree versus a terminal research degree, conducted comparisons between medical humanities programs housed in medical schools ranked in Top 20 U.S. News and World Report for Research or Primary Care, and conducted a word frequency analysis. Content analysis revealed five themes: improving patient care, improving the provider experience, generating scholarship, cultivating community relationships, and promoting diversity/sociocultural awareness. 70% of programs emphasized patient care and provider experience. Only 34% included the promotion of diversity/sociocultural awareness as a theme. Word frequency analysis corroborated our findings. U.S. and Canada medical humanities programs focus primarily on improving patient care and provider wellness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bias pervades every aspect of healthcare including admissions, perpetuating the lack of diversity in the healthcare workforce. Admissions interviews may be a time when applicants to health profession education programs experience discrimination. Between January and June 2021 we invited US and Canadian applicants to health profession education programs to complete a survey including the Everyday Discrimination Scale, adapted to ascertain experiences of discrimination during admissions interviews. We used chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression to determine associations between identity factors and positive responses. Of 1115 respondents, 281 (25.2%) reported discrimination in the interview process. Individuals with lower socioeconomic status (OR: 1.78, 95% CI [1.26, 2.52], p = 0.001) and non-native English speakers (OR: 1.76, 95% CI [1.08, 2.87], p = 0.02) were significantly more likely to experience discrimination. Half of those experiencing discrimination (139, or 49.6%) did nothing in response, though 44 (15.7%) reported the incident anonymously and 10 (3.6%) reported directly to the institution where it happened. Reports of discrimination are common among HPE applicants. Reforms at the interviewer- (e.g. avoiding questions about family planning) and institution-level (e.g. presenting institutional efforts to promote health equity) are needed to decrease the incidence and mitigate the impact of such events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors convey their views on Consensus Statements and Recommendations relating to assessment in the healthcare professions in several areas. The Consensus Statements offered an opportunity to identify areas of weakness to further advance the field of assessment. An additional Consensus Statement was produced in 2016 that addressed best assessment practice in interprofessional education. Information on the 2018 Ottawa Consensus Framework for Good Assessment is presented.

Planning and implementing educational programs in medicine optimally requires a background in educational theory and practice. An avenue of training open to such practitioners is a master's degree in medical education. A single 1998 report lists the programs known at that time and information about them remains scarce. The authors have re-examined all current programs offering master's degrees in medical or health sciences education in the English-speaking world, including the Netherlands. The authors contacted the programs identified in the 1998 report to establish how many were still in operation. The search was extended using Pubmed and other search engines. A further verification targeted a selected sample of 10 prominent US medical schools. Twenty-one currently operating programs were identified: six in the US, eight in the UK, three in Canada, three in Australia and one in Holland. Seven of nine original master's programs were still in existence. URLs, website and other logistical information about each program are tabled. A master's degree in medical or health sciences education is the most specific method for medical faculty to obtain a credentialed grounding in educational theory and practice. The authors provide up-to-date contact information for current programs and summarize other related essential logistical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmatic assessment is a longitudinal, developmental approach that fosters and harnesses the learning function of assessment. Yet the implementation, a critical step to translate theory into practice, can be challenging. As part of the Ottawa 2020 consensus statement on programmatic assessment, we sought to provide descriptions of the implementation of the 12 principles of programmatic assessment and to gain insight into enablers and barriers across different institutions and contexts. After the 2020 Ottawa conference, we surveyed 15 Health Profession Education programmes from six different countries about the implementation of the 12 principles of programmatic assessment. Survey responses were analysed using a deductive thematic analysis. A wide range of implementations were reported although the principles remained, for the most part, faithful to the original enunciation and rationale. Enablers included strong leadership support, ongoing faculty development, providing students with clear expectations about assessment, simultaneous curriculum renewal and organisational commitment to change. Most barriers were related to the need for a paradigm shift in the culture of assessment. Descriptions of implementations in relation to the theoretical principles, across multiple educational contexts, coupled with explanations of enablers and barriers, provided new insights and a clearer understanding of the strategic and operational considerations in the implementation of programmatic assessment. Future research is needed to further explore how contextual and cultural factors affect implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given barriers of patient-centred care (PCC) among physicians and trainees, this study assessed how medical schools addressed PCC in curriculum. The authors used content analysis to describe PCC in publicly-available curriculum documents of Canadian medical schools guided by McCormack's PCC Framework, and reported results using summary statistics and text examples. The authors retrieved 1459 documents from 16 medical schools (median 49.5, range 16–301). Few mentioned PCC (301, 21.2%), and even fewer thoroughly or accurately described PCC. Significantly more clerkship versus pre-clerkship (24.0% vs 12.6%, p < 0.00001), and elective compared with core course descriptions (24.7% vs 14.9%, p < 0.00001) mentioned PCC. The domain of foster a healing relationship was common (79.0%) compared with other domains: address concerns (16.5%), exchange information (14.9%), enable self-care (10.4%), share decisions (4.5%), and manage uncertainty (1.3%). Overall, few documents mentioned or described PCC or related concepts. This varied by school, and was more frequent in clerkship and elective courses, suggesting that student exposure may be brief and variable. Thus, it remains unclear if medical students are fully exposed to what PCC means and how to implement it. Future research is needed to confirm if PCC content in medical curriculum is lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faculty Development (FD) plays a key role in supporting education, especially during times of change. The effectiveness of FD often depends upon organizational factors, indicating a need for a deeper appreciation of the role of institutional context. How do organizational factors constrain or enhance the capacity of faculty developers to fulfil their mandates? Using survey research methodology, data from a survey of FD leaders at Canadian medical schools were analyzed using Bolman and Deal's four frames: Symbolic, Political, Structural, and Human Resource (HR). In the Symbolic frame, FD leaders reported lack of identity as a FD unit, which was seen as a constraining factor. Within the Political frame, developing visibility was seen as an enhancing factor, though it did not always ensure being valued. In the Structural frame, expanding scope of practice was seen as an enhancing factor, though it could also be a constraining factor if not accompanied by increased resources. In the HR frame, a sense of instability due to changing leadership and uncertainty about human resources was seen as a constraining factor. While broadening the mandate of FD can generally be considered as positive, it is imperative that it is appropriately resourced and accompanied by recognition of FD as a valued contributor to the educational mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Involving patients in medical education as teachers is not a novel approach, yet it has not been widely adopted by undergraduate surgical curricula in Canada. The Patients as Teachers initiative in surgery (PAT) program, with an arts-based reflection assignment, was developed for surgical clerks with the goals of emphasizing patient-centredness in surgical practice, humanistic aspects of medicine, and to counterbalance the commonplace emphasis on technical competency in surgery. Qualitative data was collected exploring the question: What was the experience and impact of the PAT program on patient teachers and students? Patient teachers (n = 5) were invited to participate in one-on-one interviews and students (n = 46) were invited to participate in focus groups at the end of the program. Findings converged around two main themes: what students/patient teachers valued about the PAT program and what they perceived was learned. While patient teachers felt a sense of emotional healing and appreciated a chance to contribute to medical education, students valued having protected time to learn in depth from the patient teachers. Students also begrudgingly came to appreciate the arts-based reflection assignment. By bringing patient voice to the forefront and encouraging reflection, the PAT program emphasized to students the compassionate and humanistic side of surgical care. Future studies could examine the mechanisms by which learning occurs and long-term impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) has begun the transition to Competency by Design (CBD), a new curricular model for residency education that 'ensure[s] competence, but teaches for excellence'. By 2022, all Canadian specialty programs are anticipated to have completed the CBD cohort process which includes workshops facilitated by a Royal College Clinician Educator. Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, was granted approval by the RCPSC to embark upon an accelerated path to competency-based medical education (CBME) for all our postgraduate specialties. This accelerated path allowed us to take an institutional approach for CBME implementation and ensure that all specialities were part of a system-wide change. Our unique institution-wide approach to CBD is the first of its kind across Canada. From both a theoretical and practical perspective we undertook CBME using a systems approach that allowed us to build the foundations for CBME, implement the change, and plan for sustainability. This has created opportunities to bridge and connect the various programs involved in the implementation of CBME on Queen's campus. The systems approach was an essential part of our strategy to develop a community dedicated to ensuring a successful CBME implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Policies to guide remediation in postgraduate medical education exist in all Canadian medical schools. This study examines concordance between these policies and processes, and published "best practices" in remediation. Method: We conducted a literature review to identify best practices in the area of remediation. We then reviewed remediation policies from all 13 English medical schools in Canada other than our own and conducted interviews with key informants from each institution. Each policy and interview transcript pair was then reviewed for evidence of pre-defined "best practices." Team members also noted additional potential policy or process enablers of successful remediation. Results: Most policies and processes aligned with some but not all published best practices. For instance, all participating schools tailored remediation strategies to individual resident needs, and a majority encouraged faculty-student relationships during remediation. Conversely, few required the teaching of goal-setting, strategic planning, self-monitoring, and self-awareness. In addition, we identified avoidance of automatic training extension and the use of an educational review board to support the remediation process as enablers for success. Discussion: Remediation policies and practices in Canada align well with published best practices in this area. Based on key informant opinions, flexibility to avoid training extension and use of an educational review board may also support optimal remediation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature review describes the impact of health professional schools with a social accountability mandate by identifying characteristics of medical education found to impact positively on medical students, health workforce, and health outcomes of disadvantaged communities. A critical appraisal tool was used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the published articles. Data are presented as a narrative synthesis due to the variety of methodologies in the studies, and characterized using a logic model. Health professional schools aiming to improve health outcomes for their disadvantaged local communities described collaborative partnerships with communities, equitable selection criteria, and community-engaged placements in underserved areas as positively impacting the learning and attitudes of students. Students of socially accountable schools were more likely to stay in rural areas and serve disadvantaged communities, and were often more skilled than students from more traditional schools to meet the needs of underserved communities. However, published literature on the impact of socially accountable health professional education on communities and health outcomes is limited, with only one study investigating health outcomes. The findings of this literature review guide schools on the inputs likely to maximize their socially accountability outputs and increase their impact on students, local health workforce and local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents news briefs related to medical education compiled as of November 2007. The meeting of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare titled "Fostering Excellence Through Innovation and Collaboration" will be held at the Marriott San Diego Hotel in San Diego, California on January 14-16, 2008. The Canadian Leadership Institute for Medical Education was formed by the Canadian Association for Medical Education and its partners with the aim of developing national leaders in medical education.

Background: Educational programs dedicated to pediatric trauma are either not available or comprehensive. Pediatric trauma is thus managed by a range of specialists with training in a variety of related fields. Post-certification fellowships in pediatric medicine all mandate education in the assessment and management of the injured child. The purpose of this study was to develop a blueprint for a national pediatric trauma training curriculum. Methods: A team of four experts developed content for a national pediatric trauma curriculum and disseminated it to 11 pediatric trauma sites across Canada. The objectives contained both knowledge and skill sets related to the management of the pediatric trauma patients. A multi-tiered Delphi process was used to develop the final content. Results: All the 11 pediatric teaching centers across the country participated. A final list, representing a consensus of views, was developed in 10 domains through the iterative process of the Delphi technique. The domains for the curriculum included introduction to pediatric trauma and epidemiology, initial management, pediatric airway, shock, thoracic injuries, abdominal and pelvic injuries, spinal and neurological injuries, pediatric head injuries, burns and electrical injuries, and orthopedic injuries. Conclusion: The Delphi process is an invaluable tool in developing curricula. The pediatric trauma curriculum can be used in teaching hospitals for house staff education and meeting core competencies. The blueprint can be validated further in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CURATA is a multifaceted continuing medical education (CME) intervention, developed with input from 12 healthcare organizations to address the gap between current and recommended osteoarthritis (OA) treatment of general practitioners in Québec, Canada. Focusing on appropriate prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitors (coxibs), the intervention comprised small-group, case-based workshops modelled after the Script Concordance test, and a decision tool reflecting current evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. A self-reported questionnaire measured knowledge of recommended OA treatment on an eight-point scale. Participants ( n = 381) showed a mean 10.1% improvement in questionnaire score immediately following the workshop (15.2% improvement relative to mean pre-workshop score). Knowledge was maintained for three months post-workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College is in the fourth year of implementing a new four-year Integrative Curriculum. In order to determine how the students experienced the educational environment generated by the new curriculum, the Dundee Ready Education Environment (DREEM) Inventory was administered on the same day to 148 (96%) first-year, 131 (87%) second-year, and 128 (84%) third-year students ( n = 407). Resultant scores indicated many areas of concern. However, bimodal and large numbers of 'uncertain' responses also occurred. In order to establish and compare areas of most concern between the three year groups, responses were calculated as percentages indicating for each item those who agree, disagree or are uncertain. This result clearly indicated areas of joint concern for each of the five domains addressed by the DREEM Inventory. Analysis of these concerns formed the basis of strategic planning in order to institute remedial action, and on which to focus institutional resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses information that the major Canadian teaching hospital has developed a program to recognize and reward excellence in medical education. How the working committee of the program was formed; The awards system; Three categories of hospital-wide awards; Discussion.

Background: Journal clubs are active at many universities and they involve many specialties and subspecialties. There is a surprising dearth of journal clubs which deal with articles related to the science of medical education. Aims: In an effort to expose medical educators to the outstanding benefits of medical education journal clubs we have devised a set of twelve tips to success for such clubs. Methods: We conducted a survey of journal club directors at the nine Canadian medical schools known to conduct education journal clubs. We also conducted interviews with all members of the McGill University Centre for Medical Education. Results: Combining the results from these two information sources allowed us to develop an approach to assuring success in medical education journal clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides news briefs related to medical education. Integrated medical curriculum developed by Gold Standard Multimedia; Project of McGill University of Internal Medicine in Montreal, Canada using a computer program to generate call schedules for residents; Forum provided by the European Medical Students' Association for medical students to organize and participate in activities.