Evaluating the Core Competency of Medical Students: An Analytical Framework of The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, ACGME Core Competency

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 1999 proposed the modern physicians must have six core competencies, such as patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. The system was not only introduced to Taiwan, but also applied to resident’s evaluation and training courses. However, is it too late to start the evaluation at residency? Therefore, the objectives of this study were: First, to select which skills out of the six core competencies do Taiwanese medical students lack of. Second, to explore if the lack of core competencies be affected by gender, identity, and performance. Third, will the results be used as a reference for future course design at School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University. The study was randomly adopted from samples of 57 subjects from students’ homework of “Multidisciplinary Clinical Reflective Learning in Humanities”. The results were analyzed by SAS statistical software. The research subjects were sixth-grade medical students who had finished clerkship. The instructors select student’s reports that reflect that which competency that fitted ACGME, and analysis with Logistic regression. Finally, the instructors analyze different factors, including gender, identity, and academic performance, to determine which core competencies they are lacking. The results indicated that the grades have significant impact on medical knowledge of the six core competencies. In addition, systems-based practice is most deficient among the six core competencies. In conclusion, School of Medicine could design a series of courses that are related to medical system. Furthermore, School of Medicine could strengthen other courses that are related to medical knowledge of six core competencies.