Diagnosing conflict: Conflicting data, interpersonal conflict, and conflicts of interest in clinical competency committees

Teresa Chan; Anna Oswald; Karen E Hauer; Holly A Caretta-Weyer; Markku T Nousiainen; Warren J Cheung; ICBME Collaborators

doi:10.1080/0142159X.2021.1925101

Diagnosing conflict: Conflicting data, interpersonal conflict, and conflicts of interest in clinical competency committees

Med Teach. 2021 Jul;43(7):765-773. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2021.1925101. Epub 2021 Jun 28.

Authors

Teresa Chan^{1

2

3}, Anna Oswald^{4

5

6}, Karen E Hauer^{7

8}, Holly A Caretta-Weyer⁹, Markku T Nousiainen¹⁰, Warren J Cheung^{11

12

13}; ICBME Collaborators

Affiliations

¹ Faculty Development, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
² Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
³ McMaster program for Education Research, Innovation, and Theory (MERIT), Hamilton, Canada.
⁴ Competency Based Medical Education, Office of Postgraduate Medical Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁵ CanMEDS Clinician Educator, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Edmonton, Canada.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁷ Competency Assessment and Professional Standards, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
¹² Senior Clinician Investigator, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.
¹³ CanMEDS Clinician Educator, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.

PMID: 34182879
DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2021.1925101

Abstract

Clinical competency committees (CCCs) are increasingly used within health professions education as their decisions are thought to be more defensible and fairer than those generated by previous training promotion processes. However, as with most group-based processes, it is inevitable that conflict will arise. In this paper the authors explore three ways conflict may arise within a CCC: (1) conflicting data submissions that are presented to the committee, (2) conflicts between members of the committee, and (3) conflicts of interest between a specific committee member and a trainee. The authors describe each of these conflict situations, dissect out the underlying problems, and explore possible solutions based on the current literature.

Keywords: Conflicts of interest; clinical competency committees; competency-based medical education; conflict resolution; decision-making.

MeSH terms

Clinical Competence*
Conflict of Interest*
Group Processes
Humans
Interpersonal Relations