Fairness: the hidden challenge for competency-based postgraduate medical education programs.

Competency-based medical education systems allow institutions to individualize teaching practices to meet the needs of diverse learners. Yet, the focus on continuous improvement and individualization of curricula does not exempt programs from treating learners in a fair manner. When learners fail to meet key competencies and are placed on probation or dismissed from training programs, issues of fairness may form the basis of their legal claims.

Medical student resilience strategies: A content analysis of medical students' portfolios.

Introduction: Stress and burnout among medical students is a well-recognized concern. A student's ability to employ resilience strategies to self-regulate behaviour is critical to the student's future career as a physician.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a sampling of year 1, 2 and 5 portfolio essays focused on the Personal Development competency and performance milestones, written by 49 students from three different classes in a 5-year programme devoted to training physician investigators.

The Learning Environment Counts: Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis of Study Strategies Adopted by First-Year Medical Students in a Competency-Based Educational Program.

Purpose: The move toward competency-based education will require medical schools and postgraduate training programs to restructure learning environments to motivate trainees to take personal ownership for learning. This qualitative study explores how medical students select and implement study strategies while enrolled in a unique, nontraditional program that emphasizes reflection on performance and competence rather than relying on high-stakes examinations or grades to motivate students to learn and excel.

Method: Fourteen first-year medical students volunteered to participate in three, 45-minute interviews (42 overall) scheduled three months apart during 2013-2014.

Factors influencing students' receptivity to formative feedback emerging from different assessment cultures.

Introduction: Feedback after assessment is essential to support the development of optimal performance, but often fails to reach its potential. Although different assessment cultures have been proposed, the impact of these cultures on students' receptivity to feedback is unclear. This study aimed to explore factors which aid or hinder receptivity to feedback.