Toward consensus. Training in procedural skills for internal medicine residents

The faculty, residents, and fellows of the Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, were surveyed about procedures that graduates of general internal medicine programs should be able to perform independently. More than 95% of the 177 respondents agreed that, of 71 procedures, all program graduates should be able to perform 13 without supervision. Our results are similar to those of studies at two other universities with geographically distant and philosophically different departments of medicine. The UNC faculty, fellows, and residents had significant differences of opinion on the need for training in 18 procedures. Residents tended to endorse training in the largest number of procedures, faculty the fewest, with fellows in between. The respondents' subspecialty affiliations did not influence their opinions on any of the procedural skills.