Transforming Resident Assessment: An Analysis Using Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge

W. Edwards Deming, in his System of Profound Knowledge, asserts that leaders who wish to transform a system should understand four essential elements: appreciation for a system, theory of knowledge, knowledge about variation, and psychology. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the milestones program as a part of the Next Accreditation System to create developmental language for the six core competencies and facilitate programmatic assessment within graduate medical education systems. Viewed through Deming’s lens, the ACGME can be seen as the steward of a large system, with everyone who provides assessment data as workers in that system. The authors use Deming’s framework to illustrate the working components of the assessment system of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine’s internal medicine residency program and draw parallels to the macrocosm of graduate medical education. Successes and failures in transforming resident assessment can be understood and predicted by identifying the system and its aims, turning information into knowledge, developing an understanding of variation, and appreciating the psychology of motivation of participants. The authors offer insights from their experience for educational leaders who wish to apply Deming’s elements to their own assessment systems, with questions to explore, pitfalls to avoid, and practical approaches in doing this type of work.