On Thursday, March 29, 2012, a groundbreaking report was released containing ten recommendations for transforming postgraduate medical education - the second phase of medical education in Canada where learners with an MD degree train to become clinicians such as family physicians, surgeons, and other medical specialties.
The ten recommendations, ranging from a shift to competency-based education to an overhaul of the governance structure for postgraduate medical education, are ambitious yet necessary for Canada to maintain its international reputation for excellence and innovation: "On behalf of the partners involved in this project, as well as all of those who provided input and expertise, I commit that we will do all that we can to support the implementation of these recommendations - Canada will continue to lead" said Dr. Nick Busing, President and CEO of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, the organization that acted as the secretariat for the project.
The project, which builds on the success of the Future of Medical Education in Canada undergraduate medical education project, was led by a consortium of four partners: the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), le Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ), the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC).
The final report, and a link to a video of the national launch, can be accessed at www.afmc.ca/fmecpg.