Implementing competency-based medical education in post-graduate ophthalmology training: Understanding key concepts and methodologies and overcoming challenges

The National Medical Council (NMC) has mandated that all post-graduate training shall be competency-based, following the principles of Competency. Based Medical Education (CBME). This aims to serve the dual purpose of standardizing ophthalmology post-graduate training and to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional curriculum by employing innovative and interactive teaching–learning and assessment techniques to produce competent ophthalmologists well equipped with clinical, surgical, and professional skills relevant to current times. CBME marks a paradigm shift from traditional curriculum methodologies and involves the introduction of several new concepts. This article aims to highlight the key principles of CBME and the various teaching–learning and assessment technique methodologies which can be employed for post-graduate training. It also highlights the various challenges that are likely to be faced in its implementation and measures to overcome them.

A study on effective use of technology in training first MBBS students for foundation course during pandemic era

Background: Medical education in India is being revolutionized with the introduction of “Competency-based undergraduate curriculum” for an Indian Medical Graduate. It demands great commitment, flexibility to adopt to changes, and lifelong learning. For this, 1 month foundation course was introduced across the country. Unfortunately, the pandemic had cast its shadow on a conduct of this very pertinent foundation course at a classical offline mode and made a shift to online learning inevitable. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to study how the use of technology can result in effective delivery of course content through feedback analysis and online objective assessment. Materials and Methods: Feedback from the students was obtained employing a predesigned questionnaire mailed to them using Google forms and online objective assessment was also conducted after the end of the course. Results: The majority of the students felt that the topics selected were absolutely essential for the medical profession and scored fairly well in the assessment. Conclusion: The results of the present indicate that there was not much difference in students perception about the foundation course whether covered through online or offline mode suggesting a blended learning format to be a useful teaching learning method during the post-pandemic phase.