Commentary on: Resident Exposure to Aesthetic Surgical and Nonsurgical Procedures During Canadian Residency Program Training.

Abstract

Competency-based postgraduate medical education is well defined as “an approach to preparing physicians for practice that is fundamentally oriented to graduate outcome abilities and organized around competencies derived from an analysis of societal and patient needs. It de-emphasizes time-based training and promises greater accountability, flexibility, and learner-centeredness.” 1 Starting in 2020, the newest cohort of Canadian plastic surgery residents must now complete a curriculum based on satisfactorily completing 40 Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) to graduate. These EPAs are similar to the Plastic Surgery Milestones of the US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and both are the product of collaborative efforts from a number of experts in the field. Because aesthetic surgery is considered an essential component of plastic surgery training throughout the world, 5 of Canada’s new Core EPAs are aesthetic in nature. The assessment and technical ability to independently perform breast, body, and facial aesthetic surgery has...