Constructing Approaches to Entrustable Professional Activity Development that Deliver Valid Descriptions of...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Medical Education Assessment
• Workplace-Based Assessment

Background:

• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are key for assessing health professional competence before unsupervised practice.
• Hasty development of EPAs without rigorous content analysis can compromise assessment quality and decision-making.
• There is a need for methods to establish validity evidence for EPAs before their implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for the application of construct validity evidence in the development of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).
• To ensure EPAs accurately represent the core tasks of a health profession or specialty.
• To enhance confidence in EPA-based assessment tools for entrustment decisions.

Main Methods:

• Evaluating EPA development processes through a construct validity lens.
• Analyzing the impact of construct validity on EPA selection, description, revision, and adoption.
• Examining the role of validity evidence in ensuring EPAs reflect professional practice.

Main Results:

• Construct validity evidence is essential for accurate EPA development.
• Applying this lens impacts expert selection, EPA identification, revision, evaluation, and adoption.
• It helps avoid common pitfalls and biases in EPA creation.

Conclusions:

• Construct validity evidence assures that developed EPAs accurately represent professional work.
• This evidence is vital for the appropriate use of EPAs in workplace-based assessment.
• It provides confidence in entrustment decisions made using EPA frameworks.