Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Mar;5(1):54-9.
doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-12-00060.1.

Identifying entrustable professional activities in internal medicine training

Karen E Hauer, Jeffrey Kohlwes, Patricia Cornett, Harry Hollander, Olle Ten Cate, Sumant R Ranji, Krishan Soni, William Iobst, Patricia O'Sullivan

Identifying entrustable professional activities in internal medicine training

Karen E Hauer et al. J Grad Med Educ. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) can form the foundation of competency-based assessment in medical training, focused on performance of discipline-specific core clinical activities.

Objective: To identify EPAs for the Internal Medicine (IM) Educational Milestones to operationalize competency-based assessment of residents using EPAs.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi approach to conduct a 2-step cross-sectional survey of IM educators at a 3-hospital IM residency program; residents also completed a survey. Participants rated the importance and appropriate year of training to reach competence for 30 proposed IM EPAs. Content validity indices identified essential EPAs. We conducted independent sample t tests to determine IM educator-resident agreement and calculated effect sizes. Finally, we determined the effect of different physician roles on ratings.

Results: Thirty-six IM educators participated; 22 completed both surveys. Twelve residents participated. Seventeen EPAs had a content validity index of 100%; 10 additional EPAs exceeded 80%. Educators and residents rated the importance of 27 of 30 EPAs similarly. Residents felt that 10 EPAs could be met at least 1 year earlier than educators had specified.

Conclusions: Internal medicine educators had a stable opinion of EPAs developed through this study, and residents generally agreed. Using this approach, programs could identify EPAs for resident evaluation, building on the initial list created via our study.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Core competencies. http://www.acgme-nas.org/assets/pdf/CPR-Categorization-TCC.pdf. Accessed November 28, 2012.
    1. The CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework. http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/canmeds. Accessed January 26, 2012. - PubMed
    1. Lurie SJ, Mooney CJ, Lyness JM. Measurement of the general competencies of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: a systematic review. Acad Med. 2009;84(3):301–309. - PubMed
    1. ten Cate O, Snell L, Carraccio C. Medical competence: the interplay between individual ability and the healthcare environment. Med Teach. 2010;32(8):669–675. - PubMed
    1. Jones MD, Jr, Rosenberg AA, Gilhooly JT, Carraccio CL. Perspective: competencies, outcomes, and controversy—linking professional activities to competencies to improve resident education and practice. Acad Med. 2011;86(2):161–165. - PubMed