Competencies, milestones, and EPAs - Are those who ignore the past condemned to repeat it?
We conclude with suggestions as to a way forward, because clearly the assessment of competency and the ability to guarantee that graduates are ready for medical careers is of utmost importance. Hopefully the headlong rush to competencies, milestones, and core entrustable professional activities can be tempered before even more time, effort, frustration and resources are invested in an endeavor which history suggests will collapse under its own weight.
Residents on inpatient rotations who were commonly interrupted in clinic felt pressured to return to ward duties and unable to focus on their clinic patients. Internal medicine faculty should modify curriculum to minimize the interference of other duties in resident clinics.