Fidelity to Best Practices in EPA Implementation: Outcomes Supporting Use of the Core Components Framework From the University of Virginia Entrustable Professional Activity Program.

Problem: The rapid expansion of entrustable professional activity (EPA) assessment programs has led to calls to ensure fidelity in implementation and integrity in meeting the goals of competency-based medical education. Initiated in July 2017, in advance of the articulated core components of EPA implementation, this article describes the structure and outcomes of the University of Virginia (UVA) EPA Program and provides support for the identified essential components.

Approach: The UVA EPA Program includes workplace assessments by residents/fellows, attending faculty, and master assessors (MAs), experienced clinicians who assess students across disciplines and clinical settings.

Teaching pediatric otoscopy skills to the medical student in the clinical setting: preceptor perspectives and practice.

Background: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most frequent indication for antibiotic treatment of children in the United States. Its diagnosis relies on visualization of the tympanic membrane, a clinical skill acquired through a deliberate approach. Instruction in pediatric otoscopy begins in medical school.

Moving Toward Summative Competency Assessment to Individualize the Postclerkship Phase.

In the move toward competency-based medical education, leaders have called for standardization of learning outcomes and individualization of the learning process. Significant progress has been made in establishing defined expectations for the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required for successful transition to residency training, but individualization of educational processes to assist learners in reaching these competencies has been predominantly conceptual to date. The traditional time-based structure of medical education has posed a challenge to individualization within the curriculum and has led to more attention on innovations that facilitate transition from medical school to residency.

Developing Professionalism and Professional Identity Through Unproctored, Flexible Testing.

The medical education community has devoted a great deal of attention to the development of professionalism in trainees within the context of clinical training-particularly regarding trainees' handling of ethical dilemmas related to clinical care. The community, however, knows comparatively less about the development of professional behavior in medical students during the preclerkship years. In medical schools with flexible testing, students take quizzes or examinations in an unproctored setting at a time of their choosing-as long as it falls within a specified window of time.

Teaching Pediatric Otoscopy Skills to Pediatric and Emergency Medicine Residents: A Cross-Institutional Study.

Objective: To evaluate a pediatric otoscopy curriculum with the use of outcome measures that included assessment of skills with real patients.

Methods: Thirty-three residents in an intervention group from 2 institutions received the curriculum. In the previous year, 21 residents in a nonintervention group did not receive the curriculum.

Responsible Milestone-Based Educational Handover With Individualized Learning Plan From Undergraduate to Graduate Pediatric Medical Education.

Communication of medical students' pediatric milestone assessments and individual learning plans from medical schools to pediatric residency directors allows for effective educational handovers promoting the continuum of education. Existing undergraduate medical education assessments can provide meaningful data to determine most pediatric milestone levels.

The impact of learning communities on interpersonal relationships among medical students.

Background: Medical students at the University of Virginia (UVA) are mentored and learn within the framework of a four college learning community. Uniquely, these learning communities are used to organize the third-year clerkship rotations.

Methods: Students were surveyed after their first pre-clinical year and after their clerkship year to determine what the effect of the learning community was on their social and educational interpersonal relationships.

Standardized Checklist for Otoscopy Performance Evaluation: A Validation Study of a Tool to Assess Pediatric Otoscopy Skills.

Introduction: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most frequently diagnosed pediatric illness in the United States and the most common indication for antibiotic prescription. Skill in pediatric otoscopy is essential to correctly identify children with AOM. However, studies have found diagnostic inconsistency and significant overdiagnosis among practitioners.

Benefits to faculty involved in medical school learning communities.

Purpose: Job satisfaction plays a large role in enhancing retention and minimizing loss of physicians from careers in academic medicine. The authors explored the effect of learning communities (LCs) on the faculty members' job satisfaction.

Methods: Between October 2011 and May 2012, the authors surveyed 150 academic clinical faculty members serving as LC mentors for students at five US medical schools.