CanMEDS Roles

The CanMEDS roles provide a framework whereby competence in healthcare can be evaluated across a variety of domains. The seven roles are:

CanMEDS and CanMEDS-FM roles are frameworks that identify and describes the abilities physicians require to effectively meet the health care needs of the people they serve. These abilities are grouped thematically under seven roles. A competent physician seamlessly integrates the competencies of all seven CanMEDS Roles.

1. Medical Expert

Medical Expert is the central physician role in the CanMEDS framework and defines the physician's clinical scope of practice.

As Medical Experts, physicians integrate all of the CanMEDS Roles, providing high-quality, responsive, community-adaptive care across the lifecycle, from applying medical knowledge, clinical skills, and professional values in their provision of high-quality and compassionate safe patient-centred care.

2. Communicator

Physicians foster therapeutic relationships with patients and their families that facilitate the gathering and sharing of essential information for effective patient health care.

3. Collaborators

Essential for safe, high-quality, patient-centred care, physicians work in unison with patients, families, communities, and other health care providers.

4. Leader

Physicians actively engage with others to contribute to implementing and maintaining a high-quality health care system, and take responsibility for delivering excellent patient care through their activities as clinicians, administrators, scholars, and/or teachers.

5. Health Advocate

As Health Advocates, physicians work and contribute their expertise in partnership with patient populations and communities to improve health care through an understanding of needs, as agents of change, and the mobilization of resources.

6. Scholar

As Scholars, physicians demonstrate a lifelong commitment to excellence in practice through continuous learning and teaching others, gathering, combining, and evaluating evidence, and contributing to the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

7. Professional

As Professionals, physicians are committed to the health and well-being of their individual patients and society through competent medical practice, ethical practice, accountability to the profession, profession-led regulation and maintenance of personal health.