ABSTRACT
Significant changes are occurring in graduate medical education, and one aspect of change is the introduction of instruction in and evaluation of resident per formance in six key competency areas, namely patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice. This switch to competency-based instruction, learning and evaluation was prompted in large part by the regulatory body of graduate medical education, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME): 'The residency program must require its residents to obtain competencies in these areas to the level expected of a new practitioner.'1
