Competency-Based Health Professions Education in Evolution: Challenges and Adaptations After Implementation

Health professions education is experiencing a paradigm shift, from a focus on the structures and processes of education to a focus on the outcomes health professionals must demonstrate to meet the healthcare needs of the public served. The Competency-based Health Professions Education (CBHPE) movement now has two decades of implementation experience in some contexts. Educators across health professions working on the design, planning, implementation, or maintenance of competency-based systems can benefit from the lessons learned through implementation efforts to date. In this manuscript, the authors capitalize on the experiences of the International Competency-based Health Professions Educators Collaborative (ICBHPE), a multinational and interprofessional group of educators, to summarize some of the common challenges faced and adaptations made after implementation. The lens of post-implementation challenges allows a view of CBHPE programs as they have matured. The challenges are organized by the five core components of CBHPE: outcome competencies, sequenced progression, tailored learning experiences, competency-focused instruction, and programmatic assessment. For each component, the authors review those challenges that are most common and provide examples of adaptations that have been successful. The challenges and their adaptations are synthesized through “lessons learned” to provide practical insights for designing, planning, implementing, and maintaining CBHPE programs to continue driving the evolution of CBHPE globally.