Entrustable professional activities for workplace assessment of general practice trainees

• Published in: Medical journal of Australia Vol. 210; no. 8; p. 354
• Main Authors: Valentine, Nyoli, Wignes, Jon, Benson, Jill, Clota, Stephanie, Schuwirth, Lambert Wt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Competency-Based Education - methods; General Practice - education; Humans; Professional Autonomy; South Australia; Work Performance; Workplace - organization & administration; South Australia; Clinical competence; Education, graduate; Education, medical
• ISSN: 1326-5377
• DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50130

To assess whether entrustment levels for junior trainees with respect to entrustable professional activities (EPAs) increase over time; whether entrustment levels for senior trainees are higher than for junior trainees; and whether self-assessment of entrustment levels by senior trainees more closely matches supervisor assessment than self-assessment by junior trainees. Observational study of 130 junior and 153 senior community-based general practice trainees in South Australia, 2017. Differences in entrustment levels between junior and senior trainees; change in entrustment levels for junior trainees over 9 months; concordance of supervisor and trainee assessment of entrustment level over 9 months. Senior trainees were 2.1 (95% CI, 1.66-2.58) to 3.7 times (95% CI, 2.60-5.28) as likely as junior trainees to be entrusted with performing clinical EPAs without supervision. The proportion of EPAs with which junior trainees were entrusted to perform unsupervised increased from 26% at 3 months to 35% at 6 months (rate ratio [RR], 1.37; 95% CI; 1.15-1.63), to 50% at 9 months (RR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.64-2.26), and 69% at 12 months (RR, 2.68; 95% CI; 2.32-3.12). At 3 months, the mean differences in entrustment ratings between supervisors and trainees was 5.5 points (SD, 6.6 points) for junior trainees and 2.93 points (SD, 2.8 points) for senior trainees (P < 0.001). EPAs are valid assessment tools in a workplace-based training environment.