Application of American milestone concept on standardized training for specialists in China: a case study of cardiothoracic surgery

This paper analyzed the current status of standardized training for specialists in China using American "milestone concept" and its competency training and assessment system for specialists as references. To achieve the goal of training high-standard and homogeneous cardiothoracic surgeons, a "milestone plan" focusing on the cultivation of diagnosis and treatment capacity of specialists, their mastery ability of medical knowledge, communication ability, professional ability, system-based clinical practice ability, practice-based learning ability and the ability of pursuing improvement was explored. In addition, daily assessment and summary assessment were carried out by means of self-evaluation, superior evaluation and peer evaluation. At the end, training of six core competencies and multi-dimensional evaluation system for cardiothoracic surgeons were constructed, which provided significant references to the construction of training and assessment system for specialists in China. Key words: Milestone plan; Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery; Specialist; Standardized training