While each specialty has specific requirements for patient care, some principles are common. Early in their education, residents should demonstrate patient care skills relevant to that specialty for patients with common diagnoses and for uncomplicated procedures.
As residents progress in educational level, they should be able to demonstrate patient care skills with non-routine, complicated patients and under increasingly difficult circumstances, while demonstrating compassionate, appropriate and effective care. Likewise, they should demonstrate proficiency in performing increasingly complex procedures and handling unexpected complications, while demonstrating compassion and sensitivity to patient needs and concerns.
The types of patient care experiences residents/fellows must have are included in specialty-specific program requirements. Requirements may indicate numerical requirements, settings in which experiences should occur, and indications for graduated responsibility. Evaluation methods for technical proficiency in patient care skills from the patient perspective are also needed to provide information on intangible elements of care such as compassion and sensitivity (components of professionalism). Methods such as patient surveys and multi-source evaluations can provide such insight.
Competency information taken from the
ACGME web site on Patient Care
Content pages that correspond to the Patient Care competency:
