Reliable professional activities: a tool to make the concept of competition operational

Abstract

Health professionals education has evolved from an approach with emphasis on the acquisition of content to an outcome-based one, characterized by the development of competencies. In this context, the concept of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) emerges as a way of linking competencies to practice and operationalizing them in a way that facilitates educational planning. Gradual development of competency implies that students will need decreasing supervision, practice assessment thus becoming a key tool to determine if one trainee can execute a task in a specific context and with what level of supervision. EPAs offer a concrete scale of supervision to accompany trainees in the development of competence and autonomy minimizing the risk and guaranteeing patient safety.