USMLE Physician Tasks / Competencies, a publication that provides a common organization of competencies and tasks assessed in USMLE examinations, is now available. The outline comprises seven major sections:

• Medical Knowledge/Scientific Concepts
  
  
• Patient Care: Diagnosis
  
  
• Patient Care: Management
  
  
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
  
  
• Professionalism, including Legal and Ethical Issues
  
  
• Systems-based Practice, including Patient Safety
  
  
• Practice-based Learning
  
  

While this outline is common to all USMLE examinations, each Step will continue to have test specifications specific to that Step and will emphasize certain parts of the outline.

USMLE Physician Tasks/Competencies is useful for understanding competencies assessed by multiple-choice question (MCQ) formats such as Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, and the MCQ portion of Step 3. The outline will be updated as work to identify competencies covered by non-MCQ exam formats progresses.