Developing Academic Advisors and Competence Committees members: A community approach to developing CBME faculty leaders

Abstract

Introduction: Implementing competency-based medical education (CBME) at the institutional level poses many challenges including having to rapidly enable faculty to be facilitators and champions of a new curriculum which utilizes feedback, coaching, and models of programmatic assessment. This study presents the necessary competencies required for Academic Advisors (AA) and Competence Committee (CC) members, as identified in the literature and as perceived by faculty members at Queen’s University. Methods: This study integrated a review of available literature (n=26) yielding competencies that were reviewed by the authors followed by an external review consisting of CBME experts (n=5). These approved competencies were used in a cross-sectional community consultation survey distributed one year before (n=83) and one year after transitioning to CBME (n=144). Findings: Our newly identified competencies are a useful template for other institutions. Academic Advisor competencies focused on mentoring and coaching, whereas Competence Committee member’s competencies focused on integrating assessments and institutional policies. Competency discrepancies between stakeholder groups existing before the transition had disappeared in the post-implementation sample. Conclusions: We found value in taking an active community-based approach to developing and validating faculty leader competencies sooner rather than later when transitioning to CBME. The evolution of Competence Committees members and Academic Advisors requires the investment of specialized professional development and the sustained engagement of a collaborative community with shared concerns.