One specialty's collaborative approach to competency-based curriculum development.

Abstract The authors describe a seven-stepconsensus development process used tocreate the two most recent editions ofthe Academic Pediatric Association’s(APA’s) educational guidelines forpediatric residency. The 1996 (printed)and 2004 (online) editions of theguidelines were designed as flexibletools to help residency programs meetchanging accreditation requirements byproviding lists of goals and objectivesand objective-based evaluation tools. Theguidelines were developed in sevensteps: (1) centralized national leadershipcombined with coordinated,disseminated authorship, (2) cleardefinition of targeted users and repeatedassessment of their needs, (3)incorporation of up-to-date informationfrom the literature and national experts,(4) responsive consultation with thenational Pediatric Residency ReviewCommittee on the latest accreditationrequirements, (5) wide distribution forprepublication review, to obtain broadorganizational buy-in and end-useracceptance, (6) intensive disseminationand faculty development throughmultiple national workshops over severalyears, and (7) careful evaluation ofutilization and user feedback.Representatives of all majororganizations involved in pediatriceducation helped to refine theguidelines. User surveys conducted forthe 1996 edition, and Web site user datacollected for the 2004 edition,demonstrate that both editions havebeen used by most residency programsthroughout the country. The authorsbelieve that the multifaceted approachto consensus development and thecustomizable design of the curriculartools in the APA’s guidelines are directlyassociated with their broad nationaluse. These methods may help to guideeducators in other disciplines who areinterested in developing andimplementing educational products fornational dissemination and use.