Exploring the Inner Lens: Examining Oncology Consultants' Use of Competency and Assessment Frameworks in Clinical...

Medical education in oncology has adopted a competency-based medical education (CBME) approach in Canada. Oncologist competencies are arranged within assessment frameworks, but it is unknown whether oncologists routinely use assessment frameworks when determining what to teach oncology trainees. Understanding oncologists' actual approaches to assessment and teaching as a form of enacted CBME could inform and focus faculty development efforts. Using a participatory action research approach, oncology faculty were interviewed regarding their teaching practices and use of assessment frameworks. Faculty suggestions regarding challenges in setting teaching goals and completing assessment within the CBME paradigm were solicited. Furthermore, teaching objectives developed by faculty in-house were assessed regarding the domains of competence targeted. Thirty-one of the 40 faculty members in the Department of Oncology, Western University, agreed to participate. Trainee factors (training level, areas of interest), faculty personal values and experience, the teaching setting, and some components of frameworks (medical expert, communicator, advocate, and professional) were articulated as determinants of teaching goals. Of the 1117 in-house objectives reviewed, 76% focused on the medical role. Faculty held widely disparate views on assessment framework features which would enable teaching and assessment. Oncology faculty members used a multifaceted approach to determine what to teach trainees. This approach contains elements both of the conventional apprenticeship models under which many faculty members themselves were trained and of the CBME paradigm. Future research should focus on exploring ways to resolve the tension between established individual teaching approaches and nationally standardized competency frameworks which are being implemented.