The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has promoted six areas that should be addressed during graduate medical training, or "general competencies" (GCs). According to the ACGME, these GCs should be reflected in the educational processes of all residency programs. In promulgating these competencies, however, the ACGME has not provided examples of core content, methods of implementation, or methods of evaluation. The authors propose a practical method for modifying an existing evaluation format, providing a template other programs could use in assessing residents' acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes reflected in the GCs.

By using a structured development process, the authors were able to create valid evaluation items for determining resident acquisition of the ACGME GCs.

EM residents from several residency programs showed statistically significant progressive acquisition of the ACGME GCs using a global assessment device. This suggests that the GCs may be an intrinsic component in the training of EM residents.