Self-assessment in Lifelong Learning and Improving Performance in Practice
Physician Know Thyself
- F. Daniel Duffy, MD;
- Eric S. Holmboe, MD
- Author Affiliations: American Board of Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.
- Corresponding Author: F. Daniel Duffy, MD, American Board of Internal Medicine, 510 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19010 (dduffy{at}abim.org).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- CLINICAL COMPETENCE
- EDUCATION, MEDICAL, CONTINUING
- EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT
- PHYSICIANS
- SELF-EVALUATION PROGRAMS
A self-regulating profession holds its members accountable to the public it serves for the continuous development of the competencies they profess to hold. A central component of physician competence is professionalism, which requires lifelong learning that leads to improved performance in practice. A medical profession accomplishes accountability by providing its members periodic measurement of performance using reliable and valid instruments and judging performance against evidence-based standards, providing graduate and continuing medical education (CME) programs that advance members' knowledge and skills to meet these standards, and publicly certifying those who do so.
Successful completion of accredited graduate medical education and board certification is the bedrock evidence used for identifying initial physician competence; however, most of a physician's career is spent in practice using unstructured CME that relies on self-assessment to determine learning and improvement needs. Many state medical licensing boards and most certifying boards require evidence of periodic participation in self-selected …
