Assessment of patient management skills and clinical skills of practising doctors using computer-based case simulations and standardised patients.

Context: Standardised assessments of practising doctors are receiving growing support, but theoretical and logistical issues pose serious obstacles.

Objectives: To obtain reference performance levels from experienced doctors on computer-based case simulation (CCS) and standardised patient-based (SP) methods, and to evaluate the utility of these methods in diagnostic assessment.

Setting And Participants: The study was carried out at a military tertiary care facility and involved 54 residents and credentialed staff from the emergency medicine, general surgery and internal medicine departments.

Integrating the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Core competencies into the model of the clinical practice of emergency medicine.

In response to public pressure for greater accountability from the medical profession, a transformation is occurring in the approach to medical education and assessment of physician competency. Over the past 5 years, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has implemented the Outcomes and General Competencies projects to better ensure that physicians are appropriately trained in the knowledge and skills of their specialties. Concurrently, the American Board of Medical Specialties, including the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), has embraced the competency concept.

Assessing the performance of doctors in teams and systems.

Introduction: Increasing attention is being directed towards finding ways of assessing how well doctors perform in clinical practice. Current approaches rely on strategies directed at individuals only, but, in real life, doctors' work is characterised by multiple complex professional interactions. These interactions involve different kinds of teams and are embedded within the overall context and systems of care.