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.

Concordance of Narrative Comments with Supervision Ratings Provided During Entrustable Professional Activity Assessments.

Background: Use of EPA-based entrustment-supervision ratings to determine a learner's readiness to assume patient care responsibilities is expanding.

Objective: In this study, we investigate the correlation between narrative comments and supervision ratings assigned during ad hoc assessments of medical students' performance of EPA tasks.

Design: Data from assessments completed for students enrolled in the clerkship phase over 2 academic years were used to extract a stratified random sample of 100 narrative comments for review by an expert panel.

The use of EPA assessments in decision-making: Do supervision ratings correlate with other measures of clinical performance?

Background: Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) have been introduced as a framework for teaching and assessment in competency-based educational programs. With growing use, has come a call to examine the validity of EPA assessments. We sought to explore the correlation of EPA assessments with other clinical performance measures to support use of supervision ratings in decisions about medical students' curricular progression.

Implementing Systematic Faculty Development to Support an EPA-Based Program of Assessment: Strategies, Outcomes, and Lessons Learned.

Development of a novel, competency-based program of assessment requires creation of a plan to measure the processes that enable successful implementation. The principles of implementation science outline the importance of considering key drivers that support and sustain transformative change within an educational program. The introduction of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as a framework for assessment has underscored the need to create a structured plan to prepare assessors to engage in a new paradigm of assessment.

Depression symptoms and body dissatisfaction association among polycystic ovary syndrome women.

Objective: One publication reported that lower body satisfaction and lower education were independent predictors of depression in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in women. This study replicates that analysis using different instruments, and adds androgen levels to the model.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of questionnaires (Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report, Body Esteem Scale) and serum androgens from a community cohort with (n=94) and without (n=96) PCOS, matched by BMI category.