“But what do I really need to know!?” asks the concerned student. Being the sage health professions educator you are, you respond with a turning of the table. “What would your patient would want you to know?”

Although seemingly glib, this axiom has helped guide the depth and breadth of curricula for decades. Health professions education has traditionally been defined largely by a student’s ability to compile and recall the voluminous amounts of knowledge necessary for the safe and effective practice of their discipline. What does this mean in the context of competency-based education? What happens when what was once true is now false?