Competency and Its Many Meanings

Abstract

Competency and competency assessment are central to much of professional education, regulation, and practice. In the name of safe and effective professional practice, elaborate competency education and competency assessment systems have evolved, and consume significant time, energy, and financial resources. This paper will review the evolution of competing competency discourses in pharmacy and discuss implications of these approaches on professional practice, with particular emphasis on understanding the consequences of outsized focus on competency at the expense of other potential lenses for understanding professional practice.

Rethinking Competence: A Nexus of Educational Models in the Context of Lifelong Learning

“…They are observable components of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values expressed as actual behaviour which can be measured and assessed [ 2 ]. However, in health professions education, understandings of what pertain to competency have evolved over time, leading to a variety of interpretations with contested “meanings” [ 3 ]. Competence (the ability to carry out a job or task) is also considered multi-faceted, context-driven and dynamic, but generally prescribes the “integration of abilities across multiple domains and aspects of health care professional performance in a certain context” [ 4 ].…”

Competency (and Beyond): Think Patient. Collaborate. Develop. Evaluate. Improve. Repeat.

“…Competency is no stranger concept to the pharmacy profession and it may have many meanings [10]. In 2012, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) developed the Global Competency Framework (GbCF) for services provided by pharmacy workforce [11] based on education developmental frameworks for pharmacists to aid its members to navigate this complex concept.…”

The Effect of Instructional Intervention about Competency-Based Nursing Education on academic’s knowledge, planning skills, and their acceptance during COVID Pandemic.

“…But, all terms in the current study were handled them on an academic basis. Hager and Gonczi in 1996, Austin in 2019, Bates in 2020, Fukada in 2018, Wu and Martin, in 2019, Salman et al, in 2020 reported that competency describes that the people have a chain of required characteristics involving attitudes or values, knowledge, skills and capabilities such as critical thinking, leadership, and communication skills that allow them to do any task successfully. Or, it is the person's aptitudes to execute something successfully or efficiently.…”

“…Competency refers to a cluster of cognitive, affective, and behavioral abilities that were explained in cognitivin, humanism, behaviorism, and social learning theories. (Hager and Gonczi, 1996, Austin, 2019, Bates, 2020, Fukada, 2018, Wu and Martin, 2019, Salman et al, 2020, Mulder et al, 2006, , Jung et al 2020, and Koster 2017 Competency is translated into the ability to confirm the link between the theory and the practice, in which the students develop multiple personal features and attributes.…”

“…Competence in nursing translates the students' abilities with the learning content into scientific awareness in work situation and life-long learning management for professional application. (Fukada, 2018, Austin 2019, Lucey 2018, Garneau et al, 2017, Koster et al, 2017 After learning and training, students can transfer knowledge into practice and can develop competencies along the course to manage certain tasks for professional success. Competence passes through certain phases (Unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and Unconscious competence).…”