CanMEDS "What Works"

Looking for new and easier ways to teach and assess CanMEDS competencies?

The CanMEDS What Works Inventory contains over a hundred peer-reviewed CanMEDS best practices for program directors, residents and faculty. This inventory helps medical educators share their great ideas.

How to use the inventory

All abstracts are posted in the language in which they were submitted. They are sorted by CanMEDS Role and by category. We ask that you acknowledge the source when adapting or adopting these best practices.

Search for a CanMEDS best practice

Abstracts by Role

Resources by Category

Curriculum

1. Creating a national resource of medical imaging education: Research to practice
2. Navigating the wellness-performance interface for collaborative remediation planning
3. Postgraduate medical education in the United Arab Emirates: Guidelines on a code of ethics and professional conduct for trainees
4. What does competent performance look like? A problem-based redefinition of competence
5. A team approach to identifying residents in need, diagnosing their needs and designing appropriate interventions
6. Implementation of a portfolio-based evaluation process for residents in community medicine
7. Envisioning a successful simulation interprofessional education model partnering microbiology residents and microbiology medical laboratory technologist trainees
8. La mise en place d’un programme pour l’enseignement de l’échographie dirigée aux résidents : présentation d’une solution d’enseignement combinant enseignement didactique, pratique et évaluation de la compétence
9. Learning (together) with cases: A story of interprofessional educational collaboration
10. Resident participation in an Internet-based collaborative teaching tool (Google Docs™)
11. Simulation for remote and distributed teaching, training and assessment
12. Genetics in medicine: An ethics curriculum
13. Grassroots advocacy in subspecialty fellowships: developing curriculum in global health
14. A Needs Assessment for a CanMeds-Based Curriculum in Ambulatory Care for Internal Medicine Residents in Canada
15. Co-operative learning as an instructional strategy in undergraduate medical education
16. Multi-dimensional evaluation of an integrated, intensive, multispecialties "introduction to core competencies" rotation
17. Development of a web-based internal medicine residency curriculum (e-Res) using principles of electronic academic detailing
18. Using portfolios in Anesthesiology
19. Development of a practice management curriculum for General Surgery
20. Ethics in the neonatal-perinatal medicine residency program at the University of Ottawa: Implementation of a competency-based residency education program
21. The chief resident as a role model for CanMEDS: A surgery chief resident workshop
22. The postgraduate curriculum development project of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Faculty of Radiation Oncology
23. Bringing the CanMEDS Communicator Role to "life" through web based e- learning
24. Resident as Learner and Teacher (RALT): A comprehensive web based e-learning module that contributes to teaching of the Scholar Role
25. Residents as leaders: An innovative curriculum for the development of leadership skills in residency
26. Teaching conflict resolution skills through a curriculum web initiative
27. Residents learning CanMEDS competencies through a curriculum web initiative
28. Development and implementation of a competency-based curriculum in orthopaedic surgery
29. Enhancing residents' competence in end-of-life care: Educational strategies informed by residents' perceived competence and priorities for learning
30. The program CanMEDS portfolio: A high-impact tool for your residency program
31. Managing energy: Incorporating the science of stamina into a residency curriculum
32. Teaching residents to evaluate and teach (TREaT) curriculum: Piloting a resident-as-teacher program
33. Transversal competencies: The global approach at la Faculté de médecine de l’Université Laval
34. Residents learning CanMEDS competencies through a curriculum web initiative
35. CanMEDS Scholar: Developing a progressive residents-as-teachers training program that is appropriate to residents’ level of experience
36. An interprofessional education/collaboration (IPE/C) program in maternity care: Development, implementation, evaluation and adaptability
37. Teaching interprofessional communication and conflict management (CCM) skill
38. Practical application of educational concepts in medical teaching
39. The academic half-day redesigned: A learner centered and systems-based curriculum
40. Introduction of a health advocacy module into an emergency curriculum
41. Teaching faculty to facilitate team-based health care professionalism workshop in the team-based learning style
42. Teaching in medical education: Developing a radiological skill set for Canadian medical graduates and trainees

Teaching Tool/Method

1. Creating a national resource of medical imaging education: Research to practice
2. Teaching the intangibles: How to manage an emergency department
3. Understanding the patient’s story: A theatre approach to the education of residents
4. Teaching the "art" of code status discussions: A 2-part module
5. Building resident resilience: Using mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and solution-focused therapy to teach residents stress management skills
6. Using a reflective exercise during orientation to discuss issues of supervision, communication and ideal patient safety practices
7. Mentorship enterprise: The future frontier
8. A tool to learn competencies in neonatal ethics: The portfolio
9. The development of a simulation-enhanced workshop for teaching challenging communication skills to paediatric residents
10. Effective use of simulation in an obstetrical curriculum
11. Integrated simulation for teaching and assessment of multiple skills in knee arthrocentesis
12. Interprofessional Simulation to Improve Internal Medicine Resident Training
13. Web-based directed collaborative self-study modules to enhance clinical decision-making skills in general paediatrics
14. Collaborative faculty development
15. Co-operative learning as an instructional strategy in undergraduate medical education
16. Response to intimate partner violence: a multi/inter-disciplinary workshop for professional students in the faculty of health sciences and the faculty of law
17. PDA activity tracking includes building a portfolio of learning experiences
18. Incorporating communications skills training in general surgery training programs
19. Overview of communication skills training program for neurology residents
20. A program for enhancing the communication skills of neurology residents
21. Community health initiative by university students (CHIUS) is service learning model for student driven health initiatives that responds to the needs of marginalized communities
22. "Fellows clinic": the CanMEDS Roles in action
23. Chief residents as role models for CanMEDS - the Canadian Pediatrics Chief Resident Conference
24. Cooperative group simulations for teaching/learning CanMEDS Roles: supporting example from a collaboration exercise
25. Promoting reflective practice: tools for individualizing resident training
26. Development of a practice management curriculum for General Surgery
27. Tracking Clinical Exposure Through the Customized ZoomEndo Software
28. "RAPID" Mnemonic for Managing Patients in the Emergency Department - An Educational Tool
29. How to involve your residents in developing CanMEDS initiatives: An innovative CanMEDS workshop to identify resident-driven priorities
30. A simple portfolio to learn reflective practice, CanMEDS roles, and how to meet professional challenges
31. Teaching administrative medicine to residents: Development and implementation of a physician manager curriculum
32. Educating surgical specialty residents for leadership and advocacy in Canadian health care reform
33. Interprofessional collaboration workshops: How residents learn about CanMEDS Collaborator Role in practising teams
34. Foundation concepts: Resident-led series on common clinical presentations for medical students
35. Novel use of Google sites to create a distributed toolkit for a hematopathology residency training program in Canada
36. Morning Report Blog: A web resource to complement case-based teaching
37. Leadership skills for neonatal fellows
38. Using standardized family members to teach communication skills and ethical principles to critical care trainees
39. Development of a Manager rotation for senior subspecialty residents in Developmental Pediatrics
40. Tool to promote CanMEDS teaching and evaluation in Laboratory Medicine
41. A novel approach to case presentations in academic Emergency Medicine
42. Effective audiovisual presentation: A critical appraisal of electronic presentation software and suggestions for its appropriate use in residency teaching
43. The CanMEDS portfolio: A useful tool for documentation and evaluation of CanMEDS activities for residents – an example from diagnostic radiology
44. The impact of a new structured surgical skill training model for cultivating surgical competency
45. Teaching chest computed tomography (CT) interpretation to respirology residents: Experience using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) style format as a teaching method
46. The academic half-day redesigned: A learner centered and systems-based curriculum
47. Teaching clinical skill assessment of normal child development to medical students: An integrated, evidence-based approach
48. The Endocrine Advocacy Project
49. Case-based learning in pediatric rheumatology: An effective method for teaching the Medical Expert Role
50. Teaching in medical education: Developing a radiological skill set for Canadian medical graduates and trainees
51. Teaching ethics to critical care trainees: the University of Toronto experience
52. The effect of a resident acute care resuscitation training program on 2nd year pediatric residents' confidence in “code blue” situations
53. Teaching the teachers: An intervention designed to provide residents with the tools to teach non–Medical Expert CanMEDS Roles to more junior trainees
54. Teaching faculty to facilitate team-based health care professionalism workshop in the team-based learning style
55. Teaching the basics of airway management via a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary course
56. Communication skills workshop for residency training program

Assessment Tool/Method

1. Qualitative feedback and the narrative ITER in Emergency Medicine
2. The CanMEDS observer program for direct clinical observation
3. A tool to learn competencies in neonatal ethics: The portfolio
4. Assessing the teachable moment
5. Implementation of a portfolio-based evaluation process for residents in community medicine
6. A global rating of operative microscopic surgical skills (GROMSS) for otolaryngology residents: a pilot study
7. Integrated simulation for teaching and assessment of multiple skills in knee arthrocentesis
8. Encounter cards: A tool for competency based assessment in a multi-learner, multi-faculty rotation
9. Coaching communication using simulated encounters (CCSE): an educational research study with medical residents
10. Assessing the CanMEDS Roles in neonatal-perinatal medicine using the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)
11. Improving the written communication skills of specialists - an overlooked core competency
12. Using portfolios in Anesthesiology
13. A Daily Encounter Card to Assess Undergraduate Emergency Medicine Trainees
14. Reflection as a Method to Teach and Evaluate the Professional Role
15. Tracking Clinical Exposure Through the Customized ZoomEndo Software
16. An integrated objective scoring system to assess CanMEDS Roles, skills and knowledge during crisis simulation
17. A novel method of evaluating the CanMEDS Roles on a daily basis
18. Residents learning CanMEDS competencies through a curriculum web initiative
19. The CanMEDS objective structured clinical examination (OSCE): Evaluating outside of the box - an example from diagnostic radiology
20. Trainee and faculty perspectives on the use of a CanMEDS portfolio in a pediatric fellowship program
21. A checklist for evaluating CanMEDS Roles in laboratory medicine/anatomic pathology: Adaptation for clinical specialties without direct patient care roles
22. Extending the interview to all medical school applicants: Computer-based assessment for sampling personal characteristics (CASPer)
23. Writing a pulmonary function test (PFT) report: A novel objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) station to assess the Communicator Role
24. Les CanMEDS et la globalization : Expérience libanaise d’une année
25. La supervision par observation directe au département de médecine d’urgence
26. The CanMEDS portfolio: A useful tool for documentation and evaluation of CanMEDS activities for residents – an example from diagnostic radiology
27. Case-based learning in pediatric rheumatology: An effective method for teaching the Medical Expert Role
28. Introduction and assessment of the annual anatomy review course for Obstetrics and Gynaecology residency program at the University of Ottawa

Faculty Development

1. Practical application of educational concepts in medical teaching

 

Share "What Works" in your program

The Royal College welcomes your contribution to the What Works Inventory. By sharing your program's CanMEDS best practice, you and your team will:

- be peer-reviewed and published on the CanMEDS website,
- be recognized by your peers and community, and
- contribute to progress in medical education and clinical care.