Entrustable Professional Activities

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) describe the essential work performed by PGY1&2 doctors. EPAs are a new concept for prevocational medical training and will be used alongside mid-term and end-of-term assessments to increase opportunities for junior doctors to receive valuable feedback. The EPAs in the framework have been developed, with permission, using the Royal Australasian College of Physician Basic Training Curriculum EPA structure and content.

EPA Discussions

Key points about EPAs in the prevocational context:

• EPAs describe essential work which describe characteristics of a doctor.
• EPAs are not assessment tools, but their performance can be assessed, including judgments about the required level of supervision.
• PGY1 and PGY2 doctors are assessed using the same EPAs, but PGY2 doctors are evaluated at a higher level due to the increased complexity and responsibility of their work.

EPA discussions between the prevocational doctor and the assessor can happen at any time and should have a supportive, learning approach. Below are different scenarios of EPA assessment discussions held with differing assessors.

Clinical Assessment – Example Discussion 1

Clinical Assessment – Example Discussion 2

Prescribing – Example Discussion 1

Prescribing – Example Discussion 2

Team Communication: Documentation, Handover and Referrals – Example Discussion 1

Team Communication: Documentation, Handover and Referrals – Example Discussion 2

EPA Assessor Training

The below resources provided by the AMC, are very adaptable and include a facilitator deck providing the choice to swap in different videos to suit your needs and the training example you want to provide. The videos are linked in the facilitator guide for you to embed in the EPA assessor training slide deck PowerPoint at your discretion.

Video from AMC introducing EPAs

You can find more information in the AMC’s Training and Assessment document:

• The description of the EPAs, assessment of EPAs and how they fit within the broader assessment schedule (pg. 45-50)
• Relationship between outcome statements, end-of-term assessments, and assessments of EPAs (pg. 51)
• How EPAs are utilised for improving performance (pg. 53-54)
• Assessment requirements of EPAs and the “Certifying Completion” process (pg. 57-59)
• EPA Assessment forms (pg. 75-86)
• The Accreditation Standards related to EPAs (which can be found in AMC’s Training Environment document):
  • Standard 2.3 Assessment requirements (pg. 18)