Current Status of the Resident Education Program and the Necessity of a General Competency Curriculum

In order to adapt to the rapidly changing medical environment, it is important to advance not only the basic medical education in medical schools but also that of residents. The quality of the training environment and educational goals for residency must also be improved for specialists. Although each institute including internal medicine, general surgery, family medicine, etc., strives to standardize, sets educational goals, and develops content to train capable specialists, the education programs focus on special techniques and competency of medical care for patients. The training environment of each residency program is different in each trainee hospital, and hospitals are making an effort to set education goals for the residents and improve their education programs. In Korea, there is no common core education program for residents, while in the United States, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is responsible for the development and evaluation of a standardized curriculum for residents, and in Canada, CanMEDs presents a basic curriculum to help residents develop competency. Fully capable specialists have more than just clinical competency; they also need a wide range of abilities including professionalism, leadership, communication, cooperation, in addition to taking part in continuous professional development/continuing medical education activities. We need to provide a core curriculum for residency to demonstrate attention to and knowledge about health problems of the community.