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Concurrent Validity Evidence for Entrustable Professional Activities in General Surgery Residents
Morgan Brazelle1, Polina Zmijewski2, Chandler McLeod2
1From the Department of Surgery, Advent Health Central Florida, Orlando, FL (Brazelle).
Journal of the American College of Surgeons
|April 15, 2022
Summary
Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) show validity as an assessment framework for general surgery residents. EPA scores correlate with ACGME milestones, supporting their use in evaluating surgical competency.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Surgical Training
- Competency Assessment
Background:
- Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are being developed for general surgery.
- Validity evidence is needed for EPAs in assessing surgical residents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide validity evidence for EPAs in general surgery residency.
- To assess concurrent validity of EPAs against ACGME milestones.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study in a general surgery program.
- Mobile app used for EPA assessments, scored numerically.
- Analysis of EPA scores by post-graduate year (PGY) and care phase.
- Logistic regression and rank tests for statistical analysis.
Main Results:
- 320 assessments collected from August 2018 to December 2019.
- EPA scores increased with PGY level and were lower in the operative phase.
- Scores correlated significantly with specific nonoperative milestones (ρ > 0.5) and less with operative milestones (ρ < 0.5).
Conclusions:
- PGY level and operative phase influence EPA scores, supporting their validity.
- Correlations between EPA scores and milestones provide concurrent validity evidence for EPAs.

