ERIC Number: EJ1376697
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-May
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1382-4996
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1677
"A Whole Other Competence Story": Exploring Faculty Perspectives on the Process of Workplace-Based Assessment of Entrustable Professional Activities
Chin, Melissa; Pack, Rachael; Cristancho, Sayra
Advances in Health Sciences Education, v28 n2 p369-385 May 2023
The centrality of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in competency-based medical education (CBME) is predicated on the assumption that low-stakes, high-frequency workplace-based assessments used in a programmatic approach will result in accurate and defensible judgments of competence. While there have been conversations in the literature regarding the potential of this approach, only recently has the conversation begun to explore the actual experiences of clinical faculty in this process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the process of EPA assessment for faculty in everyday practice. We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with Anesthesia faculty at a Canadian academic center. Participants were asked to describe how they engage in EPA assessment in daily practice and the factors they considered. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using the constant comparative method of grounded theory. Participants in this study perceived two sources of tension in the EPA assessment process that influenced their scoring on official forms: the potential constraints of the assessment forms and the potential consequences of their assessment outcome. This was particularly salient in circumstances of uncertainty regarding the learner's level of competence. Ultimately, EPA assessment in CBME may be experienced as higher-stakes by faculty than officially recognized due to these tensions, suggesting a layer of discomfort and burden in the process that may potentially interfere with the goal of assessment for learning. Acknowledging and understanding the nature of this burden and identifying strategies to mitigate it are critical to achieving the assessment goals of CBME.
Descriptors: Medical Education, Competency Based Education, Workplace Learning, Performance Based Assessment, Professional Development, Teacher Attitudes, Medical School Faculty, Scoring
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A