Health care is changing rapidly. New technologies, advances in care delivery, and scientific discoveries are happening at rates that make it challenging for teaching and learning practices across the continuum to keep up. Whether learners are at the beginning of their career or seasoned clinicians, new demands and advances in health care require them to acquire new competencies. The AAMC New and Emerging Areas in Medicine Series is a guide for everyone who develops curricula within the field of medicine and for people learning to practice or continuing their professional development.
Each set of new and emerging competencies is developed by leaders from across the medical education and clinical practice communities, including hundreds of reactors who reviewed iterative drafts. They are intended to supplement existing competencies (e.g., entrustable professional activities and milestones). These competencies are intended to add depth to selected emerging areas to help guide curricular and professional development, formative performance assessment, cross-continuum collaborations, and, ultimately, improvements in health care services and outcomes.
The competencies can help educators design and deliver curricula and help learners develop professionally. The competencies are for use in:
- Engaging diverse health care professionals in collaborative patient-safety-improvement, telehealth, and DEI discussions, including cross-continuum and cross-discipline colleagues.
- Conducting gap analyses of local curricula and training programs.
- Planning individual professional development.
- Developing curricular learning objectives.
- Developing assessment tools.
- Furthering research and scholarship in medical education in quality improvement, telehealth, and DEI.
- Guiding the strategic integration of DEI, telehealth, and QIPS into the curricula and the clinical learning environment.
Telehealth and Virtual Care
Telehealth, defined as the use of technology to deliver health care at a distance, has become an increasingly important and commonly used tool for delivering care to patients. Like all competencies in this series, these are intended to present a roadmap for curricular and professional development, performance assessment, and improvement of health care services and outcomes.
These competencies were developed over 18 months through an iterative process that began with Telehealth Advisory Committee members working together to articulate the set of skills required by clinicians to provide high-quality care via telehealth, independent of specialty or setting. The report on telehealth competencies across the learning continuum is the second in this series and provides a background, a glossary, and context including curricular models for integrating and improving telehealth curricula in medical education.
Please direct any questions or comments on the Competencies Project to AAMC at Telehealth@aamc.org.
Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS)
There have been many advancements in medical education over the past 20 years, including how outcomes such as competencies are defined and used to guide teaching and learning. To support this positive change, the AAMC has launched the New and Emerging Areas in Medicine series.
The report on quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS) competencies across the continuum of medical education is the first in the series. It presents a roadmap for curricular and professional development, performance assessment, and improvement of health care services and outcomes.
Please direct any questions or comments on the QIPS Competencies Project to AAMC at QIPS@aamc.org.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At the nexus of education and clinical care, academic medicine has a responsibility to confront the factors that drive racism and bias in health care as well as prepare physicians who are culturally responsive and trained to address these issues. The set of competencies being developed in DEI also aligns with the AAMC Framework for Addressing and Eliminating Racism at the AAMC, in Academic Medicine, and Beyond, which will help guide internal AAMC efforts as well as amplify and support efforts at our member institutions.
If you are interested in helping us review and revise the DEI Competencies or to share recommended resources, please email DEIcompetencies@aamc.org.