Competency-based medical education: the wave of the future

Competency-based medical education (CBME) is a new educational paradigm that will enable the medical education community to meet societal, patient, and learner needs of the 21st century. CBME offers a renewed commitment to both clinical and educational outcomes, a new focus on assessment and developmental milestones, a mechanism to promote a true continuum of medical education, and a method to promote learner-centred curricula in the context of accountability. Accountability is central to CBME, ensuring that graduating practitioners are well-rounded and competent to provide safe and effective patient care. The structure of CBME in obstetrics and gynaecology must be rooted in, and reflect, Canadian practice. Its development and implementation require an understanding of the principles that are the foundation of CBME, along with the involvement of the entire community of obstetricians and gynaecologists and other maternity care providers. We provide here an overview of the basic principles of teaching and learning and the theories underpinning CBME.