[COMPETENCY BASED MEDICAL EDUCATION - A NEW PARADIGM FOR ISRAELI PHYSICIAN TRAINING]

During the last decades the dominant paradigm, in which the duration of a rotation/course, the required content to be learnt (the material covered) and a test (usually a multiple choice one) evaluating the knowledge of the content, were paramount, is being replaced by a new paradigm: outcome/competency based medical education (CBME, OBME). In this paper the reasons for adopting this change in the developed world are presented, its nature and basic assumptions enumerated and national examples of its adoption from Scotland, Canada, UK and USA described. We will present in some detail the changes this approach entails, the new definitions it adopts, the learning outcomes it aspires to and how to evaluate them. Finally, we will present a draft outcomes proposal adapted to the Israeli reality. Since the Medicine Deans Forum and the Scientific Council of the Israeli Medical Association have adopted the new paradigm for the training of Israeli physicians, it is an opportune moment to expose the readership of Harefuah (i.e. Israel's physicians and medical students) to this relatively new paradigm.