Systems-based practice: learning the concepts using a teamwork competition model

Systems-based practice (SBP) is a core competency of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) that must be integrated into residency training. We sought to develop a method to improve resident understanding using a teamwork competition model.

The residents were given a pretest to assess their understanding of SBP followed by a didactic lecture. They were then divided into teams to solve a programmatic "problem" in the residency. Each team had to prove that their solution best fulfilled the expectations of SBP. Their solutions were then presented at a departmental conference followed by a post-test to evaluate knowledge.

In the pretest, 33% of the residents understood what SBP meant and only 15% knew the components of SBP. In the post-test, this increased to 85% and 89%, respectively.

SBP is a competency mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in residency training. Using a novel approach, we were able to improve the residents' understanding of SBP.