RESUMEN
Background: Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are units of professional practice that are defined as tasks or responsibilities that are entrusted to an unsupervised execution by a trainee. In 2021, a framework of 29 EPAs was developed for surgical residency training programs in Ethiopia, with the goal of residents being able to perform independently by the time they graduate. However, studies show that surgical residents lack confidence and are unable to execute EPAs autonomously upon graduation, and concerns have been raised about graduate competencies in EPA execution. The goal of this research is to assess how surgical team members judge/perceive residents' performance in executing these EPAs autonomously at the time of graduation and how residents rate their own capability and autonomy in executing EPAs in order to systematically introduce and implement EPAs in Ethiopian medical education. Methods: A survey was conducted in the Departments of Surgery at four residency training institutions in Ethiopia. All eligible surgical team members and final-year general surgery residents were invited to participate. Surgical team members were asked to rate the observed performance of a group of graduating surgical residents in each of the 29 EPAs, and residents were asked to rate their own capability in executing EPAs. The analysis focused on variations in performance ratings between surgical team members and residents, as well as across surgical team members. Results: A total of 125 surgical team members and 49 residents participated in this study. Residents rate their competence in performing these EPAs higher than surgical team members, mean 4.2 (SD = 0.63) vs. 3.7 (SD = 0.9). A statistically significant difference in perceptions of capability, autonomy, and expectations in executing EPAs was observed between the two groups of study (p = 0.03, CI: 0.51-0.95), as well as within surgical team members (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Differences in perceptions of capability, autonomy, and expectations between residents and surgical team members, as well as within faculty members, were seen in executing EPAs. There were concerns about graduate surgical residents' competence to execute EPAs autonomously at the time of graduation. Surgical team members perceived that a set of graduating surgical residents are not yet safe to perform these EPAs independently (without supervision) and still requires distant supervision.
RESUMEN
En vista de la transformación que se está produciendo en la educación universitaria en general y en la educación para profesionales de la salud en particular, el Instituto Universitario del Hospital Italiano plantea un cambio curricular para la carrera de Medicina. Esto implica, una forma de cambio sociocultural profunda, que afecta los distintos aspectos de la vida institucional. Se propone dejar atrás, el "sistema flexneriano" de enseñanza, proponiendo el sistema Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas (ABP), sumado a talleres y laboratorios donde el conocimiento y las habilidades se irán adquiriendo con diferente grado de complejidad en forma espiralada. El Laboratorio de Práctica Profesional (LPP) es el espacio y el ambiente educacional donde ocurre la máxima integración, trabajando sobre todos los conocimientos necesarios para llevar adelante la actividad profesional correspondiente. En el primer módulo, el enfoque fue guiado, fundamentalmente, hacia lo comunicacional persiguiendo como objetivo que el alumno desarrolle habilidades que le permitan establecer una adecuada relación médico-paciente-familia, así como vínculos adecuados con el equipo de trabajo y la comunidad . Se evaluó el taller en sí mismo y a los tutores mediante encuestas a los estudiantes, y estos últimos a su vez fueron evaluados periódicamente por los tutores y al final del módulo con un examen escrito y un examen tipo evaluación clínica objetiva estructurada. Por lo trabajado creemos que el LPP, como estrategia de enseñanza, contribuye a la formación de habilidades complejas; el resultado de las evaluaciones y el feedback rsultan indispensables para establecer un plan de mejoras. (AU)
In view of the transformation that is taking place in university education in general and in education for health professionals in particular, it is that the University Institute of the Italian Hospital proposes a curricular change for the Medicine career. This implies a socio-cultural change that affects the different aspects of institutional life. It is proposed to leave behind the "Flexnerian system", proposing a system based on: Problem Based Learning, in addition to workshops and laboratories where knowledge and skills will be acquired with a different degree of complexity in spiral form. The Professional Practice Laboratory is the space and educational environment where maximum integration occurs, working on all the necessary knowledge to carry out the corresponding professional activity. In the first module the focus was guided, fundamentally, to the communicational pursuing as objective: that the student develops skills that allow him to establish an adequate doctor-patient-family relationship, as well as adequate links, with the work team and the community. The evaluation was carried out to workshop itself and to the tutors through students' quiz. The students were periodically evaluated by the tutors and at the end of the module with a written exam and a structured Objective Clinical Evaluation type test. For what we have worked to this moment, we believe that: The laboratory of professional practice, as a teaching strategy, contributes to the formation of complex skills; being the result of the evaluations and the feedback, fundamental to establish an improvement plan. (AU)
