Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in surgical pathology: implementation experience and longitudinal observations of resident development

Abstract

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) have been implemented in various medical specialties, and the Pathology National EPA Working Group has piloted the implementation of four pathology EPAs. We recently published the development of EPAs within our surgical pathology rotation. Following a six-month pilot, a survey demonstrated that faculty and residents found the forms helpful and easy to use and easy to understand, and EPAs have been fully incorporated into our surgical pathology rotation. Here, we discuss our experience, challenges, and results of resident EPA performance for intraoperative consultations (IOC) and sign-out (SO) after 21 months of implementation. Between June 2022 and March 2024, 24 residents were evaluated by 13 faculty members, resulting in 136 IOC and 298 SO EPA forms. Paper forms were predominantly used, with only five electronic forms submitted. EPA performance scores for SO increased from 2.4 ± 0.8 in Block 1 to 4.6 ± 0.2 in Block 14 (p < 0.0001), whereas performance scores for IOC increased from 2.7 ± 1.0 in Block 1 to 4.8 ± 0.2 in Block 14 (p < 0.0001). The progressive decrease in the standard deviation throughout residency denotes higher competence homogeneity as residency graduation approaches. Overall, our EPA evaluation method showed ease of use, provided valuable tracking tools, and long-term feasibility. EPAs are robust tools for tracking resident progression toward independent practice in surgical pathology, offering valuable insights for program and rotation directors to assess and track individual EPA skills, identify intervention points, and provide an opportunity for immediate, actionable feedback based on current performance.