Deeply Rooted in Taiwan While Connecting with the International Community Taipei Medical University Hospital and ACGME Sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to Establish a Teacher Training Center

With the vision of deepening local talent development and aligning with international medical education, Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) today (01/06/2023) to jointly establish a Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) Faculty Development Center in Taiwan. The center will become an important hub for ACGME in Asia. It is hoped that its establishment will continue to improve faculty training in Taiwan hospitals and provide resources for medical education in neighboring countries, demonstrating the strength of medical education in Taiwan.

ACGME is a major educational organization in the United States that has been promoting CBME since 1999. The Six Competencies and Milestone Project advocated by ACGME have become the global standard for medical professional education and one of the key policies of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The six competencies, including patient care, medical knowledge, learning and growth from work, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and clinical work under the system, are now key indicators for the evaluation of residents.

TMUH has fully introduced CBME since 2017 to further develop medical staff training. CBME is a trainee-centered program designed to meet the competency requirements of trainees. In terms of the design, implementation, and evaluation of medical education training programs, its course curriculum has also shifted from the previous process-oriented training approach to an outcome-oriented approach. The signing of the MOU between TMUH and ACGME to establish a CBME Teacher Training Center is to ensure the further development and growth of the CBME concept in Taiwan.

"To promote the Six Competencies of ACGME is to implement the Human-Centered Holistic Medical Care Model, which is also in line with the mission of TMUH to be a Hospital that Cherishes Every Life", said Superintendent Chiou Jeng-Fong of TMUH. In order to align with international medical education and fulfill the University Hospital's Social Responsibility (USR), TMUH has sent a group of outstanding faculty members, including physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and therapists, to the ACGME headquarters in Chicago, USA, for the past five years. Since their return, they have become important seed teachers in promoting CBME in Taiwan and have co-organized CBME teacher training workshops in hospitals across the country.

As pointed out by Vice Superintendent Tseng Sung-Hui of TMUH, the core of education reform lies in teachers. To this end, TMUH has established the Center for Holistic Health Education to devote resources to the cultivation of talents and to assist in the promotion of CBME and holistic education in Taiwan and around the world. Empowerment of teachers in curriculum design is key to the success of CBME. TMUH's Teacher Development History Program will move toward integrating "instruction, assessment, and application" and creating a new "bottom-up" culture. TMUH is also actively developing a CBME workshop series for teachers to practice, experience how to design course aids, and receive feedback in order to achieve the goal of precision teaching and learning.

Director Chen Chien-Yu of the Education Department of Taipei Medical University Hospital, who has been involved in CBME for many years, indicated that clinical teachers in hospitals often have both medical and teaching duties and are responsible for multiple tasks. In recent years, TMUH has actively promoted the concept of "shared teachers" inspired by ACGME's "co-production" model, which allows teachers to share teaching content and assessment methods with each other in order to reduce teachers' burden and better reflect student learning.

Director Chen pointed out that the Hospital signed the Memorandum of Understanding with ACGME this year to keep pace with the international community. In addition to introducing the latest international educational concepts, continuously refining faculty training, and implementing localized development, we also hope to share Taiwan's experience with the international community and let the world witness the development of Taiwan's medical education through mutual exchange.