Jargon is part of every profession, and CME professionals have their own language and shorthand. Occasionally, a new word or term enters the lexicon, and it is imperative that all within that profession understand the new addition. One such new term is “core competencies.” We hear this term and wonder what is new after all. Hasn’t CME always been about competency?

Well, yes, in a way. Continuing medical education does strive to keep physicians up-to-date in their areas of medical practice, but the new term “core competencies” has a specific meaning. The term “core competencies” refers to a specific categorization system of physician competencies that is now being used throughout the medical education spectrum. Core competencies are those abilities that are central to the practice of medicine, and they are divided into six categories.

Each category of core competencies is comprised of a related set of abilities that physicians must master. Residency education is now based on these six categories of core competencies, and board certification is to be based on this same set of core competencies. In addition, maintenance of certification programs, designed by specialty boards to assure the public that physicians are staying up-to-date are also based on core competencies.

The six categories of core competencies are as follows:

• Patient care
• Medical knowledge
• Interpersonal and communications skills
• Practice-based learning and improvement
• Professionalism
• Systems-based practice

Most CME focuses only on the first two categories of core competencies, but it is becoming imperative that the four other categories of core competencies also be addressed in CME programming. For example, there is essentially universal agreement that optimal communications skills are necessary for physicians, but most often they are neglected in CME programs. Here are some simple ways to include the Interpersonal and Communications Sills Core Competencies Category in traditional CME programming:

• If your CME program is disease-specific, ask your physicians how they would explain the disease (e.g., diabetes) to their patient. What would they do differently if the patient were a 10-year-old child? An overweight 40-year old male? An 85-year-old female suffering the beginning of dementia? What safeguards would they put into place to make certain that the educational communication was successful?
• If you physician has to deliver “bad news” to the family of a patient, exactly how would he or she say what needed to be said? Would this vary if the family were Hispanic, Muslim, or on welfare? What procedures would need to be put in place to discuss this with the patient.
• If a patient resisted a necessary, but not life-threatening, procedure, what would the physician say to convince the patient otherwise? What if the person resisting were the parent of an ill child? Or the adult child of a geriatric patient?

Incorporating measures such as these into already excellent CME programming can do nothing except to further enhance the program. Perhaps you could even convince your presenters to role-play different situations like the above. In any case, it is imperative that CME programming begin to directly address communication issues.

The IACME message board at Yahoo Groups can address such issues. If you would like further ideas on incorporating core competencies into your CME programming, contact the IACME Communications Committee and then look for future articles on this website.