Development and validation of core entrustable professional activities for abdominal radiology

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Diagnostic Imaging
• Hepatobiliary and Gastrointestinal Radiology

Background:

• Competence-based medical education is increasingly important.
• Standardized assessment tools are needed for sub-specialty training.
• European Society of Radiology curricula require structured evaluation methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate European entrustable professional activities (EPAs) for sub-specialized hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal (HB/GI) diagnostic imaging.
• To establish a framework for assessing competency in HB/GI radiology.
• To create a model for developing EPAs in other diagnostic imaging sub-specialties.

Main Methods:

• Review of European Society of Radiology and national curricula.
• Drafting of preliminary EPAs by expert radiologists.
• Validation using a modified Delphi method over three rounds.
• Assessment of content validity index (CVI) and median values.

Main Results:

• Fifteen preliminary EPAs were drafted, some with resident and fellow levels.
• After three Delphi rounds, 13 EPAs were validated with 95-100% agreement.
• Initial rounds involved 37 experts from 10 European countries.

Conclusions:

• Thirteen EPAs for sub-specialized HB/GI diagnostic imaging were successfully developed and validated.
• These EPAs offer a robust methodology and serve as a template for other sub-specialties.
• The validated EPAs support competence-based training in medical education.