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Evaluating internists’ clinical competence

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Conclusion

As internal medicine changes in response to changes in biomedical knowledge and the organization of medical care, and as a broader definition of clinical competence is established, the challenge to educators and evaluators is to determine methods of measuring the competence and excellence of practicing internists. As the definition of clinical competence in internal medicine practice broadens, tougher standards will be needed to ensure that the internist is competent to practice in a more complex and challenging discipline. New methods of reliably evaluating clinical competence will be needed. These challenges of devising new standards and new areas for evaluation offer opportunities for research in medical education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Box 624, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 19104, Philadelphia, PA

    John M. Eisenberg MD

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  1. John M. Eisenberg MD
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Received from the Section of General Internal Medicine (Department of Medicine), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The author is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Council of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, but the views expressed are his and do not necessarily represent those of the ABIM or the APDIM.

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Eisenberg, J.M. Evaluating internists’ clinical competence. J Gen Intern Med 4, 139–143 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02602356

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