Objective Assessment of the Entrustable Professional Activity Handover in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Surgical Learners

Abstract

This study used a virtual patient simulation (VPS) to quantifiably and objectively assess undergraduate (UG) to postgraduate (PG) medical learners' acquisition of the entrustable professional activity (EPA) "handover," focusing particularly on the transition to residency. This EPA is critical because it is part of a core competency for UG and PG training in both the United States and Canada, and is essential for patient safety and comprehensive professional communication. Data were collected from 3 separate groups of participants: 2 UG cohorts from an earlier study, as well as a PG cohort at the beginning of residency. All participants completed the same trauma VPS, which required a free text summary statement that was used as a surrogate for an oral handover. These were collected and scored independently, using previously developed validated rubrics, one procedural and the second semantic. All study participants were from one site. The VPS case was completed online. Two different UG groups, one designated junior (N = 52), was studied at the beginning of their clerkship year, a second group, designated senior (N = 30), was studied at the end of their clerkship year. These groups were compared to a third group of PG learners (N = 31) during the initial 2 weeks of their residency. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. A procedural rubric assessed learners' cognitive knowledge of trauma care-management. A semantic rubric assessed their use of the professional language necessary for a safe and succinct clinical handover communication. An Analysis of Variance comparing scores on the procedural rubric was highly significant with Tukey LSD tests indicating that all 3 groups were significantly different. Students increased their scores on the procedural rubric at each stage of their training. A parallel Analysis of Variance comparing students' scores on the semantic rubric revealed no significant increase in scores, indicating that students did not improve in their capacity to communicate professionally as they progressed through their training. Taken together, these results demonstrate that training was successful in teaching cognitive-based procedures, but not effective in teaching professional communication, which is critical to the EPA handover. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring the acquisition of professional communication skills throughout the continuum of UG and PG clinical activities. Faculty development should serve as a support to assist medical educators to address this requirement. These results also demonstrate that VPS with associated objective and validated rubrics can be used as an assessment methodology to quantifiably measure learner performance with respect to the EPA handover. A similar strategy should be considered across the UG and PG continuum for other EPAs and could form the nexus for further research.