Purpose: Learning milestones are crucial for advancing competency-based medical education (CBME). The development of learning milestones involves establishing customized learning objectives and behavioral indicators of competency progression on the basis of the core competencies of specific job categories or practice models. This paper describes the establishment and outcomes of learning milestones for medical radiation technologists in Taiwan.
Methods: This study examined the experiences of a focus group of radiotherapy technologists in 2019, and the modified Delphi technique was used to establish a consensus regarding the learning milestones that should be set for Taiwanese medical radiation technologists, including nuclear medicine and diagnostic technologists. To establish a consensus, pretest and posttest questionnaires were administered to 2 groups of experts respectively comprising 28 and 35 individuals.
Results: The use of a consensus-building approach significantly improved the participating experts’understanding of the core competencies technologists in Taiwan must develop (p<0.001). The method effectively consolidated expert consensus, with average scores of 4.84 and 4.86 for the focus group discussion and modified Delphi technique, respectively. Additionally, the participants reported perceiving clinical teaching to offer benefits (mean score: 4.83), being more willing to use milestones (mean score: 4.79), and further strengthening professional identity(mean score: 4.79).
Conclusion: Establishing learning milestones for medical radiation technologists in Taiwan can enhance the implementation of CBME and thereby improve the quality of health care.