In Review The Implications of Core Competencies for Psychiatric Education and Practice in the US

Core competency work in the US is much newer than inCanada. The ripples of change accompanying its intro-duction are currently being felt strongly in residency training programs, and the American Board of Medical Specialties’ newly mandated Maintenance of Certification Program will soon affect all medical specialties. This article provides an up-date on the educational and certification implications of psy-chiatric core competencies in the US. The differences in making medical care core competencies operational in Canada and the US are significant. For the most part, all aspects of medical education and certification are institutionally more complicated in the US than in Canada. The following list indicates some of the ways in which work with medical core competencies differs between the 2 countries: 1. According to the CanMEDs 2000 Project Report, Canadian medical specialists ’ roles determine the tasks they must accom-plish (1). These roles include the following: medical expert (or clinical decision maker), communicator, collaborator, man-ager, health advocate, scholar, and professional. In contrast, core competencies for American medical specialists are grouped into 6 broad categories: patient care, medical knowl-edge, interpersonal and communications skills, practice-based learning and improvement, professionalism, and systems-based practice