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Ask the expert: What exactly does "practice-based learning and improvement" mean?

Residency Program Connection, September 29, 2009

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To many, the ACGME core competency practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) sounds like a bunch of random words strung together, but program managers must understand its meaning if they're to teach it to residents and document it for the ACGME.

Let’s break this term down. "Practice-based" is what residents do in their clinical practice, so "practice-based learning" is what they learn through their clinical practice. Program directors and faculty show residents that their daily practice of medicine is full of learning opportunities. Through portfolios and self assessments, residents reflect and learn from their experiences.

Additionally, developing evidenced-based skills is another component of "practice-based learning". When caring for patients, residents must know how to locate, appraise, and assimilate information from medical literature to make diagnosis or treatment plans.

Program directors and attending physicians teach these skills by facilitating journal clubs and by assigning research projects.

So where does the improvement part come in? Residents should take what they've learned and make quality improvements in their own medical practice and in the hospital system to improve outcomes.

Today's question and answer are from The Complete Residency Program Management Guide, published by HCPro, Inc.

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