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. 2023 Apr 24:10:23821205231164894.
doi: 10.1177/23821205231164894. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

An Innovative Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Using Entrustable Professional Activities

Anne E Bremer  1 , Marjolein H J van de Pol  2 , Roland F J M Laan  3 , Cornelia R M G Fluit  3
Affiliations

An Innovative Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Using Entrustable Professional Activities

Anne E Bremer et al. J Med Educ Curric Dev. .

Abstract

The need to educate medical professionals in changing medical organizations has led to a revision of the Radboudumc's undergraduate medical curriculum. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) were used as a learning tool to support participation and encourage feedback-seeking behavior, in order to offer students the best opportunities for growth. This paper describes the development of the Radboudumc's EPA-based Master's curriculum and how EPAs can facilitate continuity in learning in the clerkships. Four guiding principles were used to create a curriculum that offers possibilities for the students' development: (1) working with EPAs, (2) establishing entrustment, (3) providing continuity in learning, and (4) organizing smooth transitions. The new curriculum was designed with the implementation of EPAs and an e-portfolio, based on these 4 principles. The authors found that the revised curriculum corresponds to daily practice in clerkships. Students used their e-portfolios throughout all clerkships, which stimulates feedback-seeking behavior. Moreover, EPAs promote continuity in learning while rotating clerkships every 1 to 2 months. This might encourage curriculum developers to use EPAs when aiming for greater continuity in the development of students. Future research needs to focus on the effect of EPAs on transitions across clerkships in order to further improve the undergraduate medical curriculum.

Keywords: EPAs; clerkships; entrustment; feedback.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Undergraduate medical curricula of the United States and the Netherlands.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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