Dataset Information

Implementation of Entrustable Professional Activities into a General Surgery Residency.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Concerns over resident ability to practice effectively after graduation have led to the competency-based medical education movement. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) may facilitate competency-based medical education in surgery, but implementation is challenging. This manuscript describes 1 strategy used to implement EPAs into an academic general surgery residency.

Design, setting, participants

A mobile application was developed incorporating 5 EPAs developed by the American Board of Surgery; residents and faculty from the Departments of Surgery, Emergency Medicine, and Hospital Medicine at a single tertiary care center were trained in its use. Entrustment levels and free text feedback were collected. Self-assessment was paired with supervisor assessment, and faculty assessments were used to inform clinical competency committee entrustment decisions. Feedback was regularly solicited from app users and results distributed on a monthly basis.

Results

One thousand seven hundred and twenty microassessments were collected over the first 16 months of implementation; 898 (47.8%) were performed by faculty with 569 (66.0%) matched pairs. Engagement was skewed with small numbers of high performers in both resident and faculty groups. Continued development of resident and faculty was required to sustain engagement with the program. Nonsurgical specialties contributed significantly to resident assessments (496, 28.8%).

Conclusions

EPAs are being successfully integrated into the assessment framework at our institution. EPA implementation in surgery residency is a long-term process that requires investment, but may address limitations in the current assessment framework.

SUBMITTER: Stahl CC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7305986 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionThe competency-based medical education (CBME) movement continues to gain momentum in postgraduate physician training, resulting in increasing interest among surgical training programmes on how to implement it effectively. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) were introduced to connect competencies (characteristics/abilities of learners) and the professional activities to be entrusted to them on qualification/graduation. Although reviews related to the field of general surgery have been published on specific aspects of CBME, for example, workplace-based assessment, there is a paucity of published guidance available for surgeon-educators to plan and implement CBME using an EPA framework. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the current use of EPAs in general surgery.Methods and analysisThis scoping review will be based on the original five-stage approach described by Arksey and O'Malley with the addition of protocol-specific items from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols extension for scoping reviews. The primary research question focuses on describing how EPAs have been used in general surgery and where potential gaps remain that warrant further study. The review will include peer-reviewed journal publications and an extensive review of grey literature sources. The following databases will be searched for published literature from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2022: PubMed; CINAHL, Africa-Wide Information, PsycInfo and ERIC (via EBSCOhost); Scopus; and SciELO (via Web of Science). Studies that describe the use of EPAs for curriculum design, teaching and/or assessment of competence in postgraduate general surgery training will be eligible for inclusion.Ethics and disseminationThe institutional ethics board of the University of Cape Town has granted a waiver of formal approval requirement. The dissemination strategy includes publication of results in peer-reviewed journals, presentation at international conferences and presentation to relevant stakeholders as deemed appropriate.

Project description:ObjectiveThe Fellowship Council (FC) is transitioning to a competency-based medical education (CBME) model, including the introduction of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for training and assessment of Fellows. This study describes the implementation process employed by the FC during a ten-month pilot project and presents data regarding feasibility and perceived value.MethodsThe FC coordinated the development of EPAs in collaboration with the sponsoring societies for Advanced GI/MIS, Bariatrics, Foregut, Endoscopy and Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) fellowships encompassing the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of care for key competencies. Fifteen accredited fellowship programs participated in this project. The assessments were collected through a unique platform on the FC website. Programs were asked to convene a Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) on a quarterly basis. The pilot group met monthly to support and improve the process. An exit survey evaluated the perceived value of EPAs.ResultsThe 15 participating programs included 18 fellows and 106 faculty. A total of 655 assessments were initiated with 429 (65%) completed. The average (SD) number of EPAs completed for each fellow was 24(18); range 0-72. Intraoperative EPAs were preferentially completed (71%). The average(SD) time for both the fellow and faculty to complete an EPA was 27(78) hours. Engagement increased from 39% of fellows completing at least one EPA in September to 72% in December and declining to 50% in May. Entrustment level increased from 6% of EPAs evaluated as "Practice Ready" in September to 75% in June. The exit survey was returned by 63% of faculty and 72% of fellows. Overall, 46% of fellows and 74% of program directors recommended full-scale implementation of the EPA framework.ConclusionA competency-based assessment framework was developed by the FC and piloted in several programs. Participation was variable and required ongoing strategies to address barriers. The pilot project has prepared the FC to introduce CBME across all FC training programs.

Project description:PurposeAs global health education and training shift toward competency-based approaches, academic institutions and organizations must define appropriate assessment strategies for use across health professions. The authors aim to develop entrustable professional activities (EPAs) for global health to apply across academic and workplace settings.MethodIn 2019, the authors invited 55 global health experts from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health to participate in a multiround, online Delphi process; 30 (55%) agreed. Experts averaged 17 years of global health experience, and 12 (40%) were from low- to middle-income countries. In round one, participants listed essential global health activities. The authors used in vivo coding for round one responses to develop initial EPA statements. In subsequent rounds, participants used 5-point Likert-type scales to evaluate EPA statements for importance and relevance to global health across health professions. The authors elevated statements that were rated 4 (important/relevant to most) or 5 (very important/relevant to all) by a minimum of 70% of participants (decided a priori) to the final round, during which participants evaluated whether each statement represented an observable unit of work that could be assigned to a trainee. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis. The authors used participant comments to categorize EPA statements into role domains.ResultsTwenty-two EPA statements reached at least 70% consensus. The authors categorized these into 5 role domains: partnership developer, capacity builder, data analyzer, equity advocate, and health promoter. Statements in the equity advocate and partnership developer domains had the highest agreement for importance and relevance. Several statements achieved 100% agreement as a unit of work but achieved lower levels of agreement regarding their observability.ConclusionsEPAs for global health may be useful to academic institutions and other organizations to guide the assessment of trainees within education and training programs across health professions.