Perceptions of faculty and residents in the use of Entrustable Professional Activities in Rehabilitation Medicine Residency Program

Research Objectives: To survey the perceptions of faculty and residents in the use of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as an assessment model in Rehabilitation Medicine Residency Program.

Design: Prior to the implementation of the use of EPAs in the residency program, an educational retreat on the concept of EPAs, competencies, sub-competencies, milestones, and assessment tools was conducted to faculty and residents, followed by completion of a survey form.

Setting: In Singapore, the postgraduate medical education comprises of a mixture of specialist training programmes that have adopted the United States residency system and the United Kingdom specialist training frameworks. The local national training committees have reviewed and developed a new model to meet the local training requirements. This involves incorporating a framework of training and assessment based on the use of EPAs which are activities that define the work of a specialist. These activities are tasks entrusted to the residents to be performed independently at the end of residency training.

Participants: Faculty and residents of SingHealth Residency Program, Singapore.

Interventions: The residents and faculty were exposed to the concept of EPAs through a series of department meetings over a four-year period. Prior to the implementation of EPAs, an educational retreat was conducted followed by an anonymous completion of a survey form.

Main Outcome Measures: An eight-question survey was administered to the faculty and residents at the end of the retreat. Qualitative remarks were also noted.

Results: A total of 19 responses were gathered. The survey was completed anonymously using a 5-point Likert Scale (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree). The average score was 4.17, indicating faculty and residents were aware and comfortable of the concept of EPAs in the new assessment model.

Conclusions: The implementation of EPAs in Rehabilitation Medicine Residency Program initially appeared daunting as this required buy-in and adaptation of residents and faculty. Results of the survey indicated faculty and residents expressed awareness and comfort using EPAs as an assessment model in the residency program after an educational retreat session.

Author(s) Disclosures: Nil