“Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are units of professional practice, defined as tasks or responsibilities to be entrusted to the unsupervised execution by a trainee once he or she has attained sufficient specific competence. EPAs are independently executable, observable, and measurable in their process and outcome, and therefore, suitable for entrustment decisions. EPAs are not an alternative for competencies, but a means to translate competencies into clinical practice. Competencies are descriptors of physicians, EPAs are descriptors of work.”
Olle ten Cate (2013) Nuts and Bolts of Entrustable Professional Activities. Journal of Graduate Medical Education: March 2013, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 157-158.
Link to ABP EPAs for Pulmonology
The Academic Medicine Supplement-17 papers on CBME work and the future of an EPA framework.
EPAs that cross the generalist to subspecialist role:
- Provide for and obtain consultation from other glucophage health care providers caring for children
- Contribute to the fiscally sound and ethical management of a practice (e.g., through billing, scheduling, coding, and record keeping practices)
- Apply public health principles and improvement methodology to improve care for populations, communities, and systems
- Lead an interprofessional health care team
- Facilitate handovers to another glucophage healthcare provider
EPAs that are common to all subspecialties:
- Engage in scholarly activities through the discovery, application, and dissemination of new knowledge
- Lead within the subspecialty profession
Common EPA scales Richard Mink, MD UCLA- courtesy of SPIN
EPAs that are specific for Pulmonology
- Manage patients with acute complex respiratory disease in an ambulatory, emergency, or inpatient setting.
- Manage patients with complex chronic respiratory disease through all settings and phases of life.
- Demonstrate competence in communicating a new diagnosis of a life altering disease using a patient and family centered approach.
- Manage the use of supplemental respiratory equipment such as oxygen, ventilators, and airway clearance devices.
- Demonstrate competence in performing the common procedures of the pediatric pulmonary subspecialist.
