Core competencies in hospital medicine: development and methodology.
BACKGROUND
The hospitalist model of inpatient care has been rapidly expanding over the last decade, with significant growth related to the quality and efficiency of care provision. This growth and development have stimulated a need to better define and characterize the field of hospital medicine. Training and developing curricula specific to hospital medicine are the next step in the evolution of the field.


METHODS
The Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine: A Framework for Curriculum Development (the Core Competencies), by the Society of Hospital Medicine, introduces the expectations of hospitalists and provides an initial structural framework to guide medical educators in developing curricula that incorporate these competencies into the training and evaluation of students, clinicians-in-training, and practicing hospitalists. This article outlines the process that was undertaken to develop the Core Competencies, which included formation of a task force and editorial board, development of a topic list, the solicitation for and writing of chapters, and the execution of multiple reviews by the editorial board and both internal and external reviewers.


RESULTS
This process culminated in the Core Competencies document, which is divided into three sections: Clinical Conditions, Procedures, and Healthcare Systems. The chapters in each section delineate the core knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for effective inpatient practice while also incorporating a systems organization and improvement approach to care coordination and optimization.


CONCLUSIONS
These competencies should be a common reference and foundation for the creation of hospital medicine curricula and serve to standardize and improve inpatient training practices.
Dressler
Daniel D
DD
Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. Daniel.Dressler@Emoryhealthcare.org
Pistoria
Michael J
MJ
Budnitz
Tina L
TL
McKean
Sylvia C W
SC
Amin
Alpesh N
AN
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D016730:Program Development