ArticleBMC medical education2021
An analysis of core EPAs reveals a gap between curricular expectations and medical school graduates' self-perceived level of competence.
Article in BMC medical education, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Entrustable professional activities in medical education: strategies and results - a systematic review.Medical education online · 2026Pooled it
- Engaging the Next Generation: Designing an Experiential Intensive Care Unit Workshop on Neurologic Emergencies for Medical Students From Diverse Backgrounds.The clinical teacher · 2026Article
- Implementation and Impact of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) in Health Professions Education: A Global Bibliometric Analysis.Advances in medical education and practice · 2026Article
- Assessing supervisor versus trainee viewpoints of entrustment through cognitive and affective lenses: an artificial intelligence investigation of bias in feedback.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2024Article
- Policy options to address the effectiveness of health service management graduates in solving Iranian health system challenges: a mixed scoping review and policy Delphi approach.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Entrustable professional activities, emergency medicine and medical education: a systematic review.International journal of emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Paediatric rotations in undergraduate medical education in Switzerland: Meeting students' expectations and the goals of the competency-based learning catalogue PROFILES.GMS journal for medical education · 2024Article
- Development and consensus of entrustable professional activities for final-year medical students in anaesthesiology.BMC anesthesiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEntrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are being implemented worldwide as a means to promote competency-based medical education. In Switzerland, the new EPA-based curriculum for undergraduate medical education will be implemented in 2021. The aim of our study was to analyze the perceived, self-reported competence of graduates in 2019. The data represent a pre-implementation baseline and will provide guidance for curriculum developers.
methodsTwo hundred eighty-one graduates of the Master of Human Medicine program of the University of Zurich who had passed the Federal Licensing Exam in September 2019 were invited to complete an online survey. They were asked to rate their needed level of supervision ("observe only", "direct, proactive supervision", "indirect, reactive supervision") for 46 selected EPAs. We compared the perceived competence with the expected competence of the new curriculum.
resultsThe response rate was 54%. The need for supervision expressed by graduates varied considerably by EPA. The proportion of graduates rating themselves at expected level was high for "history taking", "physical examination" "and documentation"; medium for "prioritizing differential diagnoses", "interpreting results" and "developing and communicating a management plan"; low for "practical skills"; and very low for EPAs related to "urgent and emergency care".
conclusionsCurrently, there are significant gaps between the expectations of curriculum developers and the perceived competences of students. This is most obvious for practical skills and emergency situations. The new curriculum will either need to fill this gap or expectations might need to be revised.
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