Tackling wicked problems: how theories of agency can provide new insights.

Objectives: This paper reviews why and how theories of agency can be used as analytical lenses to help health professions education (HPE) scholars address our community's wicked problems. Wicked problems are those that resist clear problem statements, defy traditional analysis approaches, and refuse definitive resolution (e.g.

Toward Defining the Foundation of the MD Degree: Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency.

Currently, no standard defines the clinical skills that medical students must demonstrate upon graduation. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education bases its standards on required subject matter and student experiences rather than on observable educational outcomes. The absence of such established outcomes for MD graduates contributes to the gap between program directors' expectations and new residents' performance.

Graduate Medical Education: Its Role in Achieving a True Medical Education Continuum.

Nearly half a century ago, Lowell T. Coggeshall recommended, through what has come to be known as the Coggeshall Report, that physician education-medical school (or undergraduate medical education [UME]), residency training (or graduate medical education [GME]), and continuing medical education (CME)-be "planned and provided as a continuum." While the dream of a true continuum remains unfulfilled, recent innovations focused on defining and assessing meaningful outcomes at last offer the anchor for the creation of a seamless, flexible, and ongoing pathway for the preparation of physicians.

Toward a common taxonomy of competency domains for the health professions and competencies for physicians.

Although health professions worldwide are shifting to competency-based education, no common taxonomy for domains of competence and specific competencies currently exists. In this article, the authors describe their work to (1) identify domains of competence that could accommodate any health care profession and (2) extract a common set of competencies for physicians from existing health professions' competency frameworks that would be robust enough to provide a single, relevant infrastructure for curricular resources in the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC's) MedEdPORTAL and Curriculum Inventory and Reports (CIR) sites. The authors used the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)/American Board of Medical Specialties six domains of competence and 36 competencies delineated by the ACGME as their foundational reference list.

Undergraduate medical education accreditation as a driver of lifelong learning.

We describe the accreditation of medical education programs that lead to the Doctor of Medicine degree in the United States and Canada. We identify select accreditation standards that relate directly to the preparation of medical school graduates, as required for the supervised practice of medicine in residency training and for developing the skills of self-directed, independent learning. With standards that promote flexibility and encourage innovation, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education utilizes a continuous improvement model for the accreditation of undergraduate medical education with standards that promote flexibility and encourage innovation.