Agreement between trainees and supervisors on first-year entrustable professional activities for anaesthesia training

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Anesthesiology Training
• Professional Development

Background:

• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are typically designed by senior experts.
• Postgraduate training as an educational alliance necessitates including trainee perspectives.
• Understanding trainee and supervisor views on EPA entrustability is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore potential differences in trainee and supervisor perceptions of EPA entrustability.
• To determine if first-year trainees and advanced trainees/supervisors agree on which EPAs are suitable for unsupervised practice early in training.

Main Methods:

• A working group developed 16 potential first-year EPAs.
• First-year trainees, advanced trainees, and supervisors evaluated each EPA for entrustability within the first year of anesthesiology training.
• Survey data was collected and analyzed to compare group agreement.

Main Results:

• A high level of agreement was observed across all groups for 11 out of 16 EPAs.
• First-year trainees showed a significantly higher inclination to entrust five EPAs within the first year compared to advanced trainees and supervisors.
• No significant differences were found between advanced trainees and supervisors regarding EPA entrustability.

Conclusions:

• Trainee and supervisor perspectives on EPA entrustability demonstrate substantial agreement.
• Discrepancies in views among junior trainees diminish as they progress in their training.
• Trainee involvement in negotiating autonomy is supported by these findings.