AUTHOR=Chang Yu-Che , Khwepeya Madalitso , Nkambule Nothando S. , Chuang Renee S. , Chaou Chung-Hsien 

TITLE=Emergency residents' self-perceived readiness for practice: the association of milestones, entrustable professional activities, and professional identities—a multi-institutional survey

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1032516

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1032516

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Background: As a successful innovation, competency-based medical education and its assessment tools¬ continue to be a key strategy in training future doctors and tracking their performance trajectories. Linked to professional identity (PI), competency assessment is essential to promoting medical trainees’ PI development.
Methods: Through a cross-sectional study, we examined the association of milestone, entrustable professional activities (EPA) and PI using self-reported tools among emergency medicine residents at 12 tertiary teaching hospitals across Taiwan. Milestone, EPA and PI were assessed using the Emergency Medicine Milestone Scale, Entrustable Professional Activity Scale and Emergency Physician Professional Identity and Value Scale, respectively. Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between milestone and EPA assessment, and PI.
Results: A significant positive correlation was reported between milestone-based core competencies and EPAs (r=0.40~0.74, p<0.01). The PI domain of skills acquisition, capabilities and practical wisdom was positively correlated with milestone-based core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, problem-based learning and improvement, and system-based practice (r=0.18~0.21, p≤0.05) and six items of EPA (r=0.16~0.22, p<0.05).
Conclusion: This study demonstrates milestone and EPA assessment tools are highly linked and therefore, can be synergistically used by supervisors and clinical educators to evaluate clinical performance during residency training. The advancement of skills and a resident’s ability to effectively perform tasks and make appropriate medical decisions partly influences their PI. Further research is warranted to understand the importance of residents PI and their competency trajectory progression during clinical training.