Competency-Based Education in Emergency Medicine: Lessons From a Multiprogram Pilot to Guide Specialty-Wide Implementation

Competency-based medical education (CBME) is transforming medical training with five core components: outcomes-based frameworks, progressive competency sequencing, tailored learning experiences, coaching-focused teaching, and programmatic assessment. Twelve emergency medicine residency programs have piloted CBME, offering valuable insights into its implementation. This session will explore lessons learned, successes, and challenges from these pilot programs. Panelists will share strategies for overcoming barriers, enhancing CBME in emergency medicine, and offer practical tools to help participants advance the seamless integration of CBME into their own programs, driving improvement in residency education across diverse training settings.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
  • Define the core components of competency-based education.
  • Discuss the variable implementation approaches and lessons learned by the pilot programs.
  • Leverage tools and lessons learned from the pilot initiatives to begin to implement competency-based education within their own context.

Presenters:

  • Holly A. Caretta-Weyer, MD, MHPE
  • Benjamin H. Schnapp, MD, MEd
  • Lalena M. Yarris, MD, MCR
  • Laura R. Hopson, MD, MEd
Authors

  • Holly A. Caretta-Weyer, MD, MHPE

    Director of Evaluation and Assessment

    Stanford University

    Dr. Holly Caretta-Weyer is associate residency program director and director of evaluation and assessment for the Stanford University emergency medicine residency program as well as EPA/CBME implementation lead at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Caretta-Weyer attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where she graduated Alpha Omega Alpha with honors in research. She stayed at Wisconsin for her emergency medicine residency, where she was also chief resident. Dr. Caretta-Weyer then completed her medical education scholarship fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University and earned her master's in health professions education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is a PhD candidate at Maastricht University studying residency selection in a competency-based system.

  • Benjamin H. Schnapp, MD, MEd

    University of Wisconsin

    Dr. Benjamin Schnapp graduated from the Mount Sinai Hospital emergency medicine residency program in New York City, where he completed a specialty track in medical education and served as chief resident. He completed his medical education fellowship at Northwestern University and is pursuing a master's in education with a focus on health professions at the University of Cincinnati. His interests include clinical teaching skills, resident assessment, and decision-making. He serves on the SAEM Graduate Medical Education and Fellowship Approval committees.

  • Lalena M. Yarris, MD, MCR

    Professor, Emergency Medicine

    Oregon Health & Science University

    Professor of Emergency Medicine, Education Section Director and Vice Chair for Education at Oregon Health & Science University

  • Laura R. Hopson, MD, MEd

    University of Michigan

    Laura R. Hopson is Professor and Associate Chair of Education in the Department of Emergency Medicine of the University of Michigan Medical School. She graduated from Yale University with a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and obtained her MD from Duke University. She completed residency training at the University of Michigan, and a master’s in education through Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hopson has been extensively involved in medical education at the undergraduate and graduate level throughout her career including 9 years as residency program director. She co-directs the University of Michigan’s GME Innovations program which is an institutional initiative to promote innovations in education and demonstrates their effectiveness through high-level learner and patient centered outcomes. Dr. Hopson has a long-standing interest in the transition between UME and GME and her scholarly work focuses on the residency selection process and optimizing learning outcomes including the implementation of competency based medical education.

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