Entrustable professional activities in postgraduate general surgery training: a scoping review protocol

Daniel Nel; Eduard Jonas; Vanessa Burch; Amy Nel; Lydia Cairncross; Adnan Alseidi; Brian George; Olle Ten Cate

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067322

Entrustable professional activities in postgraduate general surgery training: a scoping review protocol

BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 15;13(3):e067322. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067322.

Authors

Daniel Nel¹, Eduard Jonas², Vanessa Burch³, Amy Nel⁴, Lydia Cairncross², Adnan Alseidi⁵, Brian George⁶, Olle Ten Cate⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa danielnel87@gmail.com.
² Department of Surgery, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
³ Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, and the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Public Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁵ Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
⁷ Center for Research and Development of Education, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Abstract

Introduction: The competency-based medical education (CBME) movement continues to gain momentum in postgraduate physician training, resulting in increasing interest among surgical training programmes on how to implement it effectively. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) were introduced to connect competencies (characteristics/abilities of learners) and the professional activities to be entrusted to them on qualification/graduation. Although reviews related to the field of general surgery have been published on specific aspects of CBME, for example, workplace-based assessment, there is a paucity of published guidance available for surgeon-educators to plan and implement CBME using an EPA framework. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the current use of EPAs in general surgery.

Methods and analysis: This scoping review will be based on the original five-stage approach described by Arksey and O'Malley with the addition of protocol-specific items from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols extension for scoping reviews. The primary research question focuses on describing how EPAs have been used in general surgery and where potential gaps remain that warrant further study. The review will include peer-reviewed journal publications and an extensive review of grey literature sources. The following databases will be searched for published literature from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2022: PubMed; CINAHL, Africa-Wide Information, PsycInfo and ERIC (via EBSCOhost); Scopus; and SciELO (via Web of Science). Studies that describe the use of EPAs for curriculum design, teaching and/or assessment of competence in postgraduate general surgery training will be eligible for inclusion.

Ethics and dissemination: The institutional ethics board of the University of Cape Town has granted a waiver of formal approval requirement. The dissemination strategy includes publication of results in peer-reviewed journals, presentation at international conferences and presentation to relevant stakeholders as deemed appropriate.

Keywords: EDUCATION & TRAINING (see Medical Education & Training); MEDICAL EDUCATION & TRAINING; SURGERY.

MeSH terms

Bibliometrics
Clinical Competence
Competency-Based Education* / methods
Curriculum*
Humans
Research Design
Review Literature as Topic
Systematic Reviews as Topic
Workplace