Graduation
Competencies
The College Committee on Instruction and Appraisal has defined
the qualities of its graduates in terms of competencies that
must be acquired by each of these graduates. These competencies
are:
1. BASIC AND CLINICAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE BASE
The faculty of the College of Medicine at the University
of Illinois believes that any statement of Graduation Competencies
must include mastery of the body of knowledge that constitutes
the basic and clinical sciences underpinning the practice
of medicine. First and foremost, the competent graduate must
possess a thorough understanding of the scientific principles
of basic and clinical sciences that will enable him/her to
competently practice evidence?based medicine.
2. COMMUNICATIONS/ BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL
The competent graduate listens attentively, communicates
clearly with colleagues, consultants, patients, and patients'
families in a verbal and written manner so that accurate information
is passed from person to person in order to establish an effective
therapeutic relationship that contributes to coordinated,
comprehensive care. This will ultimately result in effective,
sensitive patient care.
3. ETHICAL REASONING AND JUDGMENT
The competent graduate approaches medicine with integrity
and respect for human dignity, deals honestly with patients
and members of the health care team, and seeks to promote
these virtues in colleagues.
The competent graduate recognizes key ethical dilemmas and
conflicts of interest in medical practice and can formulate,
defend and carry out a course of action that takes into account
the value systems of all patients, while maintaining personal
integrity.
The competent graduate applies key legal concepts and is
aware of professional requirements governing medical practice.
4. LIFE-LONG LEARNING
The competent graduate actively sets clear learning goals,
pursues them, and continuously integrates knowledge gained
and applies it in order to improve medical care.
The competent graduate is able to assess his/her strengths
and weaknesses in order to improve performance and identify
effective ways to address limitations including seeking help
and advice.
The competent graduate can access information effectively,
critically appraise the usefulness of this information and
utilize new technologies and scientific advances that are
required for the continued enhancement of their medical practice.
5. DATA GATHERING / PROBLEM DEFINITION
The competent graduate must be able to gather a medical
history appropriate to the patient's medical concerns, perform
a skillful examination, and formulate a differential diagnosis
and problem list. As necessary, the graduate competently performs
orders and interprets diagnostic investigations that result
in accurate diagnosis and treatment.
The competent graduate continues to utilize data to reason
and solve problems and to retrieve information from multiple
sources, including family and consultants, as well as electronic
databases.
6. MANAGEMENT/ CLINICAL DECISION MAKING
The competent graduate must be able to manage the patient
by combining knowledge of basic biomedical and clinical sciences
with diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, medications and
use of healthcare resources, while considering cultural and
socioeconomic factors as well as the patient's personality
to help the patient attain and sustain an optimal health state.
The competent graduate appropriately utilizes and integrates
the services of multidisciplinary health providers.
7. HEALTH MAINTENANCE/ DISEASE PREVENTION
The competent graduate knows the determinants of poor health,
disease?based risk factors, factors for disease prevention
and healthy lifestyles (principles of preventive medicine),
and the elements of health education and applies the principles
of epidemiology and evidence?based medicine to evaluating
risk factors and management strategies.
The competent graduate teaches patients and their families
in order to prevent health problems and achieve the optimum
standards of health care and disease prevention.
The competent graduate is able to evaluate and integrate
community resources into the health maintenance of individual
patients and their families.
8. SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY CONTEXTS OF HEALTH CARE
The competent graduate understands and is sensitive to the
influence of "culture" on health, taking into account
the spiritual, ethnic, socioeconomic, psychological, familial,
legal and political factors that impact their patients. He/she
is able to define health in terms of the community in which
the patient lives (population?based medicine). The competent
graduate can assess the effect of the physical environment
on community health.
The competent graduate is nonjudgmental towards individual
patients and provides care regardless of personal feelings
about the patient.
The competent graduate understands the principles of health
care delivery and can describe the organization of a health
care delivery system in those terms.
The competent graduate can describe the principles, risks
and possible benefits of complementary medicine.
9. PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR (PERSONAL, FAMILY, COMMUNITY)
The competent graduate provides leadership in patient care,
while respecting the views and interests of all members of
the health care team, the patient and patient's family.
The competent graduate maintains and respects patient confidentiality,
and is aware of the unique doctor/ patient relationship.
The competent graduate knows and admits the limits of knowledge,
can deal with uncertainty, and respects the opinions of others.
The competent graduate recognizes the need to learn is continuous.
The competent graduate balances personal and professional
commitments to ensure that the patient's medical needs are
always addressed.
The competent graduate recognizes conflicts of interest
in financial and organizational arrangements for the practice
of medicine.
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