Physician-Mentored Patient Rounds to Observe and Assess Entrustable Professional Activities 1 and 2 in Preclinical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are crucial for assessing medical students' residency readiness.
• Physician-Mentored Patient Rounds (PMPR) were developed at ATSU-KCOM to focus on EPA 1 and EPA 2.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of PMPRs in assessing EPA 1 (history and physical examination) and EPA 2 (differential diagnosis).

Main Methods:

• PMPR sessions involved students gathering patient history, observing physical exams, and analyzing diagnostic tests over several weeks.
• A real patient case with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was used.
• Student diagnostic accuracy was measured after each session.

Main Results:

• High student attendance was observed in the PMPR sessions.
• Despite initial disorder in history gathering, diagnostic accuracy improved over the three sessions.
• A significant majority of students included COPD in their differential diagnosis, with accuracy increasing after physical examination and test result analysis.

Conclusions:

• PMPRs provide an effective method for assessing preclinical students' performance on EPA 1 and EPA 2.
• The PMPR program demonstrates potential for evaluating essential clinical competencies before residency.