The CanMEDS Project is well underway to launch an updated physician competency framework by fall 2026. To help the medical education community stay informed and engaged throughout the framework update process, the project partners have launched the new CanMEDS Project website. This site will serve as the central hub for all project updates, including timelines, emerging concept descriptions and future implementation resources. As a practicing physician, program director, educator, regulator or learner, the site is designed to keep you connected to the progress of the project. 

CanMEDS Project: Keeping pace with modern medicine

At its core, the CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework describes the multi-faceted responsibilities physicians have as health care providers. Since its launch in 1996, the CanMEDS Framework has grown into one of the most widely used and respected models for defining physician competence in the world.

Since the last update, medicine has seen dramatic shifts — from the rise of virtual care, artificial intelligence and big data to a sharpened focus on physician wellness, planetary health, Indigenous health and anti-racism in patient care. One of the objectives of the CanMEDS revision is to consider if and how to integrate these emerging concepts into the framework going forward. 

Focusing on patient outcomes in a quickly evolving landscape

This update of the CanMEDS Framework has presented new challenges — not because the core purpose of CanMEDS has changed, but because the health care landscape has. As we engage in discussions, our approach remains rooted in the principles that have always guided CanMEDS: serving patients, supporting physicians, and advancing safe, effective and compassionate care.

Physicians across Canada enter the profession with a deep and enduring commitment to serve patients to the best of their ability. The CanMEDS Project is an opportunity to offer advanced supports to physicians during an era of rapid medical innovation and growing societal complexity.

Early consultations on the framework revision between 2021 and 2023 led to the development of the CanMEDS Project guiding principles and joint statement on the role of medical expertise, representing the strong majority of voices in the medical community at large. 

Governance grounded in partnership

Led by Canada’s leading national medical education organizations, every stage of the project is informed by expert working groups, advisory committees and national consultations. This shared governance model has been designed to ensure that the project considers the needs of physicians across disciplines and career stages in both official languages, and that decisions are evidence-informed, broadly representative and grounded in the lived experience of educators, clinicians, learners and patients. 

Many uses, one framework

For the first time, the national organizations are working toward endorsing a single, unified competency framework — a step that will further align physician education and practice from medical school to retirement. This shared foundation is embedded in curriculum development, assessment strategies, continuing professional development and practice standards across Canada and beyond.

Supporting a practical, collaborative rollout

The project partners recognize that updating a national competency framework has real impacts on the educators, program directors, faculty and institutions who will bring it to life. That’s why we are committed to ensuring that implementation is thoughtful, phased and realistic — with timelines that allow for meaningful integration without adding unnecessary pressure.

The community is not expected to do this alone. Implementation is planned to start in 2027 and could extend beyond 2030. Finalized timing and details will be developed in close partnership with postgraduate medical education offices, Specialty Committees and continuing professional development leaders. The needed tools, resources and guidance will be developed jointly to make the transition as smooth and sustainable as possible — with flexibility that reflects the unique contexts across learning environments.

Learn more at our CanMEDS Project quick links

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