Exploring the Utility of Entrustable Professional Activities as a Framework to Enhance Nurse Practitioner Education

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Nursing Practice
• Competency Assessment

Background:

• Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are established tools for assessing clinical competence in medical education.
• The application of EPAs in nurse practitioner (NP) education is a developing area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the relevance of existing medical EPAs to NP education.
• To determine if medical EPAs align with national NP competency areas and curriculum learning activities.

Main Methods:

• Nurse practitioner faculty reviewed a set of medical EPAs.
• EPAs were analyzed for their linkage to physician competencies.
• The review assessed relevance to national NP competency areas and NP curriculum learning activities.

Main Results:

• A significant alignment was found between medical EPAs and NP competencies, with 8 out of 9 areas relating.
• NP curriculum learning activities were found to correlate with multiple EPAs.
• This suggests a potential framework for evaluating NP students.

Conclusions:

• Medical EPAs can be adapted for NP education, offering a valuable clinical evaluation method.
• Further refinement is necessary to specifically tailor EPAs to the NP role and competencies.
• EPAs may improve the clarity and consistency of clinical proficiency assessment for NP students, faculty, and preceptors.