Competency frameworks serve various roles including outlining characteristics of a competent workforce, facilitating mobility, and analysing or assessing expertise. Given these roles and their ...relevance in the health professions, we sought to understand the methods and strategies used in the development of existing competency frameworks. We applied the Arksey and O’Malley framework to undertake this scoping review. We searched six electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus, and ERIC) and three grey literature sources (greylit.org, Trove and Google Scholar) using keywords related to competency frameworks. We screened studies for inclusion by title and abstract, and we included studies of any type that described the development of a competency framework in a healthcare profession. Two reviewers independently extracted data including study characteristics. Data synthesis was both quantitative and qualitative. Among 5710 citations, we selected 190 for analysis. The majority of studies were conducted in medicine and nursing professions. Literature reviews and group techniques were conducted in 116 studies each (61%), and 85 (45%) outlined some form of stakeholder deliberation. We observed a significant degree of diversity in methodological strategies, inconsistent adherence to existing guidance on the selection of methods, who was involved, and based on the variation we observed in timeframes, combination, function, application and reporting of methods and strategies, there is no apparent gold standard or standardised approach to competency framework development. We observed significant variation within the conduct and reporting of the competency framework development process. While some variation can be expected given the differences across and within professions, our results suggest there is some difficulty in determining whether methods were fit-for-purpose, and therefore in making determinations regarding the appropriateness of the development process. This uncertainty may unwillingly create and legitimise uncertain or artificial outcomes. There is a need for improved guidance in the process for developing and reporting competency frameworks.
Background
Problem‐solving competences have evolved into key skills for professionals. Computer‐based business simulations enable the analysis of problem‐solving processes beyond end results. An ...important aspect of successful problem‐solving is to systematically use built‐in tools and process the provided information efficiently.
Objectives
This investigation explores the relationship between students' tool use, information retrieval, and problem‐solving success in a computerized problem‐solving office simulation.
Methods
Around 30,000 recorded behavioural log data points of 432 German vocational students were analysed.
Results and Conclusion
Distinct user groups are identified and cognitive problem‐solving competences are assessed to draw a link between behaviour and performance. An explorative cluster analysis based on student behaviour revealed four clusters. Significant results support the use of two cognitive tools that lead to success. One successful behaviour is using a notepad, a domain‐general and voluntary tool. Another successful problem‐solving behaviour is the use of a domain‐specific and solution‐relevant spreadsheet program. Note‐taking organizes information and mental processes while the spreadsheet leads to efficient computing. In line with other studies, students with higher problem‐solving competences tend to access tools and documents providing information more frequently.
Takeaways
Domain‐general tool use differs from domain‐specific tool use over time. There are two different successful behaviour patterns in complex problem solving. Instructional and simulation designers should provide specific tools to support students as well as tackle problems.
Lay Description
Complex problem‐solving behaviour is very context‐specific.
To the authors' knowledge, no study exists on the relationship between problem‐solving behaviour and success in a computer‐based office simulation in the business domain.
Based on log files of 432 students, this study identifies student clusters demonstrating different behaviour and success.
Regarding practical implications, instructional and simulation designers should provide specific tools to support students as well as tackle problems.
Introduction: The ever-progressing transformation of the media as a result of digitization trends, the new characteristics of the communication environment and the associated communication practices ...and forms of user behaviour result in new educational needs and demands. Their reassessment in the context of current scientific discourses takes the form of revision and redefinition of the concept of media competence. Methodology: through a reflexive analysis of the concepts and models, we present the conceptualization of media competence as an extended competence to the area of personal, social, cultural and civic competencies. Results: The result of the work is a reassessment of conceptual positions in the projection of features of media competence in the context of the significant phenomena of the converged digital environment: participatory paradigm, hyperconnectivity, proliferation of disinformation. This approach requires the extension of skills and abilities in accessing, evaluating, analyzing, creating and communicating news and media; skills combining the previous forms of literacy and skills of digital environment (Livingstone, 2004; Pérez Tornero, Celot, Varis, 2007; Hobbs, 2008). Discussion: Our approach is associated with broader educational demands and needs aimed at the development of the individual´s personality in a more holistic way, connected with the more complex needs of a society where media presence is higher. Conclusions: The changes in the subject of ´Learning about the media´ are resassed at the end of the paper.
Using management competency-based frameworks to guide developing and delivering training and formal education to managers has been increasingly recognized as a key strategy in building management ...capacity. Hence, interest in identifying and confirming the competency requirements in various contexts have been witnessed. Therefore, learnings from how competency studies were designed and conducted, how competencies were identified, and strategies in ensuring success in competency identification are of great value to researchers planning and conducting competency studies in their own country.
A scoping review was conducted guided by the Arksey and O'Malley framework and reported according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). All papers that published empirical studies aiming at identifying and assessing manager's competencies at the peer-reviewed journals were identified from Web of sciences, PubMed, Scopus and Emerald Management between 2000 and 2021. In order to maximize learning, studies focusing on health and non-health sectors are all included.
In total, 186 studies were included in the review including slightly more than half of the studies conducted in health sector (54.5%). 60% of the studies focused on mid to senior level managers. Surveys and Interviews were the two most commonly used methods either solely or as part of the mix-method in the studies. Half of the studies used mixed methods approach (51.1%). Large proportion of the papers failed to include all information that is necessary to contribute to learning and improvement in future study design. Based on the results of the scoping review a four steps framework was developed that can guide designing and implementing management competency studies in specific country vs. sector context and to ensure benefits of the studies are maximised.
The review confirmed the increasing trend in investing in management competency studies and that the management competency identification and development process varied substantially, in the choice of methods and processes. The identification of missing information in majority of the published studies calls for the development of more rigorous guidelines for the peer-review process of journal publications. The proposed framework of improving the quality and impact of the future management competency study provides clear guidance to management competency identification and development that promotes the functional alignment of methods and strategies with intended uses and contexts.
Despite explanations in the literature, a returning question in the use of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) is how to distinguish them from competencies and skills. In this article, we ...attempt to analyze the causes of the frequent confusion and conflation of EPAs with competencies and skills, and argue why the distinction is important for education, qualification and patient safety. ‘Tracheotomy’, ‘lumbar puncture’, ‘interprofessional collaboration’ for example are colloquially called ‘skills’, but its is a person’s
ability
to perform these activities that is the actual skill; the EPA is simply the activity itself. We identify two possible causes for the confusion. One is a tendency to frame all educational objectives as EPAs. Many objectives of medical training can be conceptualized as EPAs, if ‘the ability to do X’ is the corresponding competency; but that does not work for all. We offer ways to deal with objectives of training that are not usefully conceptualized as EPAs. A more fundamental cause relates to entrustment decisions. The permission to contribute to health care reflects entrustment. Entrustment decisions are the links or pivots between a person’s readiness for the task and the actual task execution. However, if entrustment decisions do not lead to increased autonomy in the practice of health care, but only serve to decide upon the advancement to a next stage of training, EPAs can become the tick boxes learners feel they need to collect to ‘pass’. Gradually, then, EPAs can loose their original meaning of units of practice for which one becomes qualified.
Systems thinking competence is one of the key sustainability competences to make the future more sustainable by focusing on individuals’ capability to analyse sustainability problems across different ...sectors and scales. The other competencies to foster systems thinking are futures thinking competence, values and critical thinking competence, action-oriented competence, and collaboration competence. In this study, we examined Finnish people’s systems thinking competence and its connections to sustainable transformation. The survey data collected from Finns (n = 2006) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analysis. The study showed that the sustainability component loaded reliably into principal components. In particular, the Cronbach’s alpha (0.91) and Spearman–Brown (0.90) were high for systems thinking competence. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that Finns’ values, critical thinking, and individual action-oriented competence predict their systems thinking competence. The results indicate that Finns’ ideas of climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation arise from their individual values and opinions that actions are implemented in an ethically just way.
•A total of 12 articles were included.•The number of domains varied across all of the selected studies.•This scoping review indicates that communication and ICS are essential domains.•Disaster ...planning is one of the most important core competencies for nurses.•Another of the important domains are decontamination and ethics.
Scoping review was conducted to identify the most common domains of the core competencies of disaster nursing.
Nurses play an essential role in all phases of disaster management. For nurses to respond competently, they must be equipped with the skills to provide comprehensive and holistic care to the populations affected by or at risk of disasters.
A scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. The review used information from six databases: the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Ovid MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Scopus and the Education Resources Information Center. Keywords and inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified as strategies to use in this review.
Twelve studies were eligible for result extraction, as they listed domains of the core competencies. These domains varied among studies. However, the most common domains were related to communication, planning, decontamination and safety, the Incident Command System and ethics.
Knowledge of the domains of the core competencies, such as understanding the content and location of the disaster plan, communication during disaster and ethical issues is fundamental for nurses. Including these domains in the planning and provision of training for nurses, such as disaster drills, will strengthen their preparedness to respond competently to disaster cases. Nurses must be involved in future research in this area to explore and describe their fundamental competencies in each domain.
In recent years, demand has outpaced capacity to provide timely competence to stand trial (CST) evaluations and subsequent restoration services. This outpacing of resources has been coined the ..."competency crisis" and led to class action lawsuits across the country aimed at improving the timeliness of jail-based competence evaluations and inpatient restoration services. This study examined rates of CST evaluation delays in Washington State and evaluator-cited barriers to timely report submission for jail-based CST evaluations. The study used data from N = 17,874 court-ordered jail-based CST evaluations and N = 1,739 Good Cause Exception (e.g., extension) requests submitted by forensic evaluators to local courts from June 2018 to November 2022. Results indicated the number of jail-based CST evaluations increased annually, as did the percentage of evaluations with an accompanying extension request. Although Washington evaluators could have asked for a Good Cause Exception in any case that appeared to be at risk for noncompliance, they did not always do so, with only one request submitted for every 2.36 noncompliant evaluations. When evaluators did submit an extension request, the most common reason cited for requesting extensions was "attorney" (42.5%) followed by "other" (34.2%) and "more information needed" (17.1%). Although the most frequently cited reason for delays may be unique to Washington (i.e., attorney presence for evaluations), it highlights the importance of jurisdiction-specific field studies to identify and reduce barriers to the timely completion of competence valuations.
The American Psychological Association (APA) advocates the use of person-first language (e.g., people with disabilities) to refer to individuals with disabilities in daily discourse and to reduce ...bias in psychological writing. Disability culture advocates and disability studies scholars have challenged the rationale for and implications of exclusive person-first language use, promoting use of identity-first language (e.g., disabled people). We argue that psychologists should adopt identity-first language alongside person-first constructions to address the concerns of disability groups while promoting human dignity and maintaining scientific and professional rigor. We review the evolution of disability language and then discuss the major models used to characterize disability and people with disabilities. The rationale for person-first language and the emergence of identity-first language, respectively, are linked to particular models. We then discuss some language challenges posed by identity-first language and the current intent of person-first language, suggesting that psychologists make judicious use of the former when it is possible to do so. We conclude by offering five observations of ways that use of both person-first and identity-first language could enhance psychologists' cultural competence regarding disability issues in personal and scientific communications.
Competence by Design (CBD) is a medical education initiative instituted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to improve the training of resident physicians in specialty ...disciplines. CBD integrates Competency Based Medical Education with traditional specialty discipline post-graduate medical education (PGME) training through the application of an organizational framework of competencies. Various specialty disciplines in Canada have transitioned to CBD since 2017 in a staggered approach. Diagnostic radiology PGME programs in Canada are expected to transition to CBD in 2022 for the incoming resident physician cohort. This article reviews potential challenges to the implementation of CBD in diagnostic radiology PGME programs and proposes evidence-informed targeted strategies and solutions to address these challenges. It is important for diagnostic radiology PGME programs to understand the challenges pertaining to the implementation of CBD so that they may be able to successfully implement this or similar medical education initiatives in their programs. Moreover, as radiology subspecialty PGME programs, such as nuclear medicine, interventional radiology, neuroradiology, and pediatric radiology, likewise transition to CBD and diagnostic radiology PGME programs internationally increasingly implement other Competency Based Medical Education models, the implications of the challenges pertaining to the implementation of CBD will further become of increasing importance.
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