Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and the Transition from Medical School to Residency: the Postgraduate Year One Resident Perspective

Introduction: The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) proposed thirteen core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) that all graduates should be able to perform under indirect supervision upon entering residency. As an underlying premise is that graduates ready to do so will be better prepared to transition to the responsibilities of residency, we explored the relationship between postgraduate year (PGY)-1 residents’ self-assessed preparedness to perform core EPAs under indirect supervision at the start of residency with their ease of transition to residency. Methods: Using response data to a questionnaire administered in September 2019 to PGY-1 residents who graduated from AAMC core EPA pilot schools, we examined between-group differences and independent associations for each of PGY-1 position type, specialty, and “EPA-preparedness” score (proportion of EPAs the resident reported as prepared to perform under indirect supervision at the start of residency) and ease of transition to residency (from 1 = much harder to 5 = much easier than expected). Results: Of 274 questionnaire respondents (19% of 1438 graduates), 241 (88% of 274) had entered PGY-1 training and completed all questionnaire items of interest. EPA-preparedness score (mean 0.71 [standard deviation 0.26]) correlated with ease of transition (3.1 [0.9]; correlation =.291, p <.001). In linear regression controlling for specialty (among other variables), EPA-preparedness score (β-coefficient 1.08; 95% confidence interval.64–1.52; p <.001) predicted ease of transition to residency. Conclusion: Graduates who felt prepared to perform many of the core EPAs under indirect supervision at the start of PGY-1 training reported an easier-than-expected transition to residency.