Monkey see, monkey do: a critique of the competency model in graduate medical education

BACKGROUND Graduate medical education in the UK is in danger of being subsumed in a minimalist discourse of competency. ARGUMENT While accepting that competence in a doctor is a sine qua non, the author criticises the construction of a graduate and specialist medical education based solely upon a competency model. Many competency models follow the concepts of either academic competence or operational competence, both of which have lately been subject to criticism. CONCLUSION The author discusses the need for replacing such criterion-referenced models in favour of a model that engages the higher order competence, performance and understanding which represent professional practice at its best.