Introducing a Psychiatry Clerkship Curriculum Based on Entrustable Professional Activities: an Explorative Pilot...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry Training
• Competency-Based Education

Background:

• Traditional psychiatry clerkships face challenges in effectively assessing and developing core competencies.
• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) offer a framework for defining and evaluating essential skills in medical training.
• There is a need for innovative curricula that integrate EPAs into clinical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a reformed psychiatry clerkship curriculum incorporating EPAs.
• To assess the impact of a novel workplace-based assessment format on learning outcomes.
• To determine student and supervisor perceptions of the new curriculum.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory pilot study was conducted with a cohort of 10 medical students.
• A reformed curriculum based on EPAs was implemented, featuring a new workplace-based assessment format and an entrustment-supervision scale.
• The Kirkpatrick model was used to evaluate curriculum outcomes at three levels: acceptance, learning, and behavior change.

Main Results:

• Students reported high satisfaction (average 4.9/5.0) with the reformed clerkship (Level 1).
• A significant decrease in self-assessed need for supervision was observed, moving from direct to indirect supervision (Level 2, p < 0.05).
• Supervisors' ratings indicated a decreasing need for supervision throughout the clerkship, supporting competency development (Level 3).

Conclusions:

• The reformed psychiatry clerkship curriculum was positively received by students.
• Workplace-based assessments with entrustment ratings facilitated the achievement of competency-based learning objectives.
• Further research is needed to optimize the assessment of all core EPAs within the psychiatry clerkship.