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. 2023 Oct 19;12(1):418-426.
doi: 10.5334/pme.996. eCollection 2023.

Virtues in Competency-Based Assessment Frameworks: A Text Analysis

Pleuntje M B Verstegen  1 , J J Jos Kole  1 , A Stef Groenewoud  1 , Frank J A van den Hoogen  1
Affiliations

Virtues in Competency-Based Assessment Frameworks: A Text Analysis

Pleuntje M B Verstegen et al. Perspect Med Educ. .

Abstract

Introduction: Official documentation of specialty training provides comprehensive and elaborate criteria to assess residents. These criteria are commonly described in terms of competency roles and entrustable professional activities (EPA's), but they may also implicitly encompass virtues. Virtues are desirable personal qualities that enable a person, in this case, a medical specialist, to make and act on the right decisions. We articulate these virtues and explore the resulting implied ideal of a medical professional.

Method: We applied a two-staged virtue ethical content analysis to analyze documents, specific to the Dutch training program of the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialty. First, we identified explicit references to virtues. Next, we articulated implicit virtues through interpretation. The results were categorized into cardinal, intellectual, moral, and professional virtues.

Results: Thirty virtues were identified in the ENT- training program. Amongst them, practical wisdom, temperance, and commitment. Furthermore, integrity, curiosity, flexibility, attentiveness, trustworthiness and calmness are often implicitly assumed. Notable findings are the emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness. Together, these virtues depict an ideal of a future medical specialist.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that competency-frameworks and EPA's implicitly appeal to virtues and articulate a specific ideal surgeon. Explicit attention for virtue development and discussion of the role and relevance of implied ideal professionals in terms of virtues could further improve specialty training.

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Conflict of interest statement

Co-author F.J.A. van den Hoogen is also co-author of ENTER2. We have discussed this issue openly during team-meetings and together declared the importance of this critical analysis and the independence of researcher P.M.B. Verstegen, J.J. Kole, and A.S. Groenewoud. F.J.A. van den Hoogen actively supported and contributed to the critical analysis of the program and encouraged this research throughout.

Figures

Fading triangles from yellow to blue
Figure 1
Schematic representation of Virtue Ethical Content Analysis.
Explicit and implicit virtues of ENTER2 shown in a blocked table
Figure 2
Explicit and implicit virtues of ENTER2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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