What is an EPA?
EPAs are activities where interns are observed carrying out some every day common tasks so that they can receive regular feedback about their progress.
They are rated on their level of Entrustability (see below for an explanation)
EPAs are not pass/fail activities!
They are opportunities for feedback and the more EPAs one does, the more they benefit!
Why are EPAs being done?
Part of the new National Framework for Prevocational Doctor Training
EPAs result in increased, regular, directly-observed feedback of JMS completed in real-time.
They gather objective evidence of proficiency across a broad range of routine tasks.
EPAs are designed to combine with other forms of assessment (Procedural skills assessments, Term Assessments) to provide a more complete picture of an intern's overall competence.
What does Entrustability mean?
"How much supervision does a Doctor require to perform a particular task?"
OR
"How much can this Doctor be trusted to carry out this task independently?"
This is assessed against a standard of someone at the end of that particular stage of training:
- An intern would be assessed against the standard of a late PGY1/early PGY2 doctor, for example.
