Incorporation of Trauma-Informed Care Into Entrustable Professional Activities for Medical Student Assessment.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Trauma-Informed Care
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Trauma-informed care (TIC) is crucial for addressing trauma's impact in healthcare.
• Medical schools are increasingly incorporating TIC into curricula.
• A gap exists in comprehensive assessment tools for medical students' TIC clinical skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a novel framework for assessing medical students' trauma-informed care (TIC) clinical skills.
• To integrate TIC competencies into existing entrustable professional activities (EPAs) at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

Main Methods:

• A committee of students, trainees, and faculty developed TIC competencies based on national standards.
• TIC competencies were iteratively integrated into 13 general HMS EPAs with expert review and consensus.
• Anchoring descriptions for each competency level within the EPAs were generated.

Main Results:

• Ten TIC competencies were identified and incorporated into all 13 HMS EPAs.
• Each HMS EPA now includes at least one trauma-informed competency.
• A comprehensive rubric for assessing medical students' TIC clinical skills was established.

Conclusions:

• The novel set of TIC-inclusive EPAs provides a robust framework for assessing clinical skills in trauma-informed care.
• Implementation requires faculty training to ensure reliable and consistent assessment.
• This model can be adopted by other institutions to advance TIC education and practice.