The Milestones are designed only for use in evaluation of resident physicians in the context of their participation in ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship programs. The Milestones provide a framework for the assessment of the development of the resident physician in key dimensions of the elements of physician competency in a specialty or subspecialty. The Milestones represent neither the entirety of the dimensions of the 6 domains of physician competency nor are they designed to be relevant in any other context.
Evidence suggests that teamwork is essential for safe, reliable practice. Creating health care teams able to function effectively in patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), practices that organize care around the patient and demonstrate achievement of defined quality care standards, remains challenging. Preparing trainees for practice in interprofessional teams is particularly challenging in academic health centers where health professions curricula are largely siloed. Here, the authors review a well-delineated set of teamwork competencies that are important for high-functioning teams and suggest how these competencies might be useful for interprofessional team training and achievement of PCMH standards. The five competencies are (1) team leadership, the ability to coordinate team members' activities, ensure appropriate task distribution, evaluate effectiveness, and inspire high-level performance, (2) mutual performance monitoring, the ability to develop a shared understanding among team members regarding intentions, roles, and responsibilities so as to accurately monitor one another's performance for collective success, (3) backup behavior, the ability to anticipate the needs of other team members and shift responsibilities during times of variable workload, (4) adaptability, the capability of team members to adjust their strategy for completing tasks on the basis of feedback from the work environment, and (5) team orientation, the tendency to prioritize team goals over individual goals, encourage alternative perspectives, and show respect and regard for each team member. Relating each competency to a vignette from an academic primary care clinic, the authors describe potential strategies for improving teamwork learning and applying the teamwork competences to academic PCMH practices.
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