Mastery Learning: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

This concluding chapter of Mastery Learning in Health Professions Education addresses two mastery learning centers of interest—opportunities and challenges. Six opportunities are discussed: (a) expand mastery learning curricula to include a broader range of skills training in medicine, nursing, and other health professions; (b) spread mastery learning curricula into patient education and education for family members and patient caregivers; (c) develop and test mastery learning curricula to better address training of clinical team skills; (d) widen education models where one’s peers and other professionals serve as teachers and assessors; (e) enlarge mastery learning domains to cover a much wider range of non-technical clinical skills; and (f) improve the quality, impact, and reporting of mastery learning research. Seven challenges are then presented: (a) assessment of complex clinical problems; (b) achievement of adaptive competencies in patient care; (c) the limits of mastery learning; (d) evaluation apprehension; (e) cultural and organizational questions; (f) mastery learning in the context of new and emerging technologies; and (g) in the USA, a lack of federal funding for mastery learning health professions education research. We hope this chapter will inspire other health professions educators to adopt and improve the mastery learning model in service of their learners and patients.KeywordsAdaptive competenciesComplex assessmentCulture and organizationCurriculumEvaluation apprehensionLimits of mastery learningMastery learningNew and emerging technologiesNon-technical clinical skills; Patient educationPeer teaching and assessmentResearchTeam training