Select Page

SMART Goals for Residency Learning and Rotations

Use SMART goals to turn the 2025 residency competencies into clear learning objectives for rotations and individual resident development. Directors and mentors can use this guide when designing learning experiences; residents and mentors can use it together when planning the next stage of learning.

Where SMART Goals Fit in the 2025 Standards

SMART is a practical method for writing useful learning objectives. The 2025 NCOPE Residency Standards require program structure, learning objectives and assessment; they do not prescribe the SMART acronym or a SMART template.

  • Program design: Standards 3.2a–3.2b connect the sequence and duration of learning experiences with objectives that support progressive resident engagement.
  • Rotation objectives: Standard 3.4a.4 requires objectives assigned to the learning experience. Its accompanying guidance calls for at least one objective for each rotation.
  • Progress and feedback: Standards 3.6–3.7 connect monitoring and evaluation with adjustments to the resident’s learning activities.
  • Individual development: Appendix B, competencies 7.3–7.4 address self-directed learning goals and using feedback to support professional development.

Use the competencies in Appendix B to identify the performance the resident needs to develop. Its domains cover Professionalism/Ethics, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Knowledge, Decision Making, Patient Care, Interprofessional Collaboration and Systems-Based Practice, and Professional Development and Well-Being.

A clinical setting, patient population or device category provides the context for a learning experience. The objective describes what the resident will demonstrate within that context. Plan access to required experiences and MAVs using Appendix A, and assess competence using the applicable competency descriptions.

What Makes a Goal SMART?

Specific
State an observable action, such as assessing findings, explaining a care plan or communicating a recommendation.
Measurable
Define the evidence and criteria the mentor will use to assess progress. An activity count can help plan practice, but the quality of the resident’s performance must also be assessed.
Attainable
Match the objective to the resident’s starting point, available learning opportunities and required level of supervision.
Relevant
Connect the objective to an Appendix B competency and the purpose of the rotation or the resident’s identified learning need.
Timely
Set a realistic completion date and a point when the resident and mentor will review progress.

Write a Learning Objective

  1. Select the Competency

    Choose the applicable Appendix B competency and read its descriptions. Identify the knowledge, judgment, skills or behaviors the resident needs to develop.

  2. Describe the Action

    Write what the resident will demonstrate. Use an observable action instead of a broad phrase such as “understand patient care.”

  3. Choose the Learning Experience

    Identify the rotation, practice setting and learning activities that provide appropriate opportunities to work toward the objective.

  4. Define the Evidence

    Agree how the mentor will assess progress: direct observation, discussion of clinical reasoning, a case presentation or another suitable work product. Use the applicable competency descriptors.

  5. Set the Review Date

    Choose a feasible timeframe based on the resident’s readiness and available resources. Identify an earlier check-in if it will help address barriers.

  6. Use Feedback to Adjust

    Review the evidence together. Revise learning activities, support or the objective as needed, while maintaining the program’s required outcomes.

A Starting Template

By [review date], during [learning experience], the resident will [observable action] in [defined situations]. The mentor will assess progress through [evidence], using [the relevant competency descriptors and agreed criteria].

Examples for Rotations and Individual Development

Adapt these examples to the site and resident. The timeframes and activity counts illustrate the writing method; they are not additional NCOPE minimum requirements. Clinical activities remain subject to the resident’s readiness and the applicable supervision requirements. Completing a stated number of activities does not, by itself, establish competence.

Clinical Reasoning and Care Planning

Domains: Decision Making and Patient Care
Context: A pediatric orthotic rotation

By the end of a six-week rotation, the resident will present and justify evaluation findings and proposed care plans for three appropriate patients, connecting clinical findings, patient priorities and the proposed intervention. The mentor will observe the relevant care activities and assess the resident’s reasoning using the selected competency descriptors.

Communication With the Care Team

Domains: Communication and Interpersonal Skills; Interprofessional Collaboration and Systems-Based Practice
Context: A rotation involving collaborative patient care

During the next four weeks, the resident will deliver three case handovers that communicate the patient’s goals, key findings, recommendations and follow-up responsibilities. The mentor will observe the handovers and give feedback on clarity, accuracy and coordination using the relevant competency descriptors.

Professional Judgment

Domain: Professionalism/Ethics
Context: A quarterly learning plan

Before the next quarterly review, the resident will discuss two appropriate clinical situations with the mentor, identify relevant consent or confidentiality considerations and explain how professional standards informed the response. The mentor will assess the reasoning and provide feedback against the selected professionalism competency.

Learning From Feedback

Domain: Professional Development and Well-Being
Context: An individual development objective

Within four weeks of a progress review, the resident will identify one learning need from feedback, complete an agreed learning activity and present how it applies to a case or practice situation. At the scheduled review, the resident and mentor will discuss the evidence and agree on the next learning step.

Review Goals With the Resident and Mentor

Introduce the objectives at the start of the rotation and agree how progress will be assessed. Use planned check-ins and the required quarterly evaluation discussions to review performance, feedback and access to learning opportunities.

  • Directors and mentors: Check that the program’s learning experiences collectively support the required competencies and experiences. Use the Rotation Builder With Goals to document the planned sequence and objectives.
  • Residents: Bring self-evaluation, examples of your work and questions about your progress to the discussion.
  • Together: Identify what is progressing, what needs more practice and which learning activities or support should change. Keep the objective and its review date clear.

The Forms and Competency Assessment guide explains how competency ratings, written feedback and learning opportunities connect.

Planning and Assessment Resources