Newswise — Baltimore, MD — The Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) announced on April 5, 2017, the availability of the first ever core set of physiatry-specific Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), developed and validated by a subcommittee of the AAP Educational Committee. EPAs have been adopted by a variety of specialties for the purpose of real-time observational assessment of clinical competency in a manner that makes intuitive sense and is feasible within the workplace environment.

“The move towards competency-based medical education has focused attention to the need for methods of observational assessment that are feasible in a busy clinical environment and which align with learning opportunities that naturally occur within the work place,” commented Dr. Heather Baer from the University of Colorado Denver Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R).  Dr. Baer is a Co-Chair of the AAP subcommittee and one of four contributing authors of the recently published article ‘Entrustable Professional Activities For Residency Training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’ in the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AJPM&R).

Other AAP members who assisted in the creation and development of the physiatry-specific EPAs and are authors of the publication include: Michael Mallow, MD, EPA, Subcommittee Co-Chair and lead author; Alex Moroz, MD, FACP; Vu Q.C. Nguyen, MD, MBA; AAP Education Chair.

EPAs are gaining acceptance in medical education as a means of expressing how much an attending physician trusts a trainee to be able to perform a specific clinical task that is part of the essential work of that specialty. The advantage of this approach is that each clinical attending physician can focus specifically upon how well and with what degree of supervision the trainee can accomplish the work that is most relevant to the specific rotation, without direct reference to competencies and milestones, which can be abstract or difficult to observe. The 19 physiatry-specific EPAs, along with supporting materials, can be found on AAP’s Virtual Campus website – physiatry.org/EPA.

 

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The Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) is the only academic association dedicated to the specialty of physiatry in the world. AAP is an organization of leading physicians, researchers, in-training physiatrists, and others involved or interested in mentorship, leadership, and discovery in physiatry. AAP holds an Annual Meeting, produces a leading medical journal in rehabilitation, AJPM&R, and leads a variety of programs and activities that support and enhance academic physiatry. To learn more about the Association and the field of physiatry, visit our site at physiatry.org and follow us on Twitter using @AAPhysiatrists.

 

The 2018 AAP Annual Meeting will take place in Atlanta, Georgia on February 13-17, 2018. The AAP Annual Meeting brings together physiatrists and academicians, in-training physiatrists, researchers and academic PM&R professionals to share the latest information, innovative techniques, best practices, and new technologies. The overarching theme of AAP 2018 is pain and the meeting will be highlighting ground-breaking technologies associated with the theme. The meeting is packed with educational activities including educational sessions, cutting-edge keynote speakers, hands-on workshops, and scientific papers presentations along with numerous poster board presentations illustrating the finest scientific research.