Provide Telemedicine Services: An Entrustable Professional Activity

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a remarkable increase in the provision of telemedicine services. These services are, in many instances, proving to be more efficient and patient friendly than in-person office visits. Even after the pandemic, it is likely that telemedicine will make up a considerably higher proportion of physician health care services than before the pandemic. As a result, we have created a potential 14th Core Entrustable Professional Activity for Entering Residency: Provide Telemedicine Services. This EPA provides a significant opportunity to move students from the direct to the indirect supervision level in certain instances of telemedicine and thus potentially provide a real value-added approach for students in the current pandemic. 

The resource currently configured provides: 

1. A description of the EPA 
2. The critical competencies drawn from the Physician Competency Reference Set (Englander et al. Toward a common taxonomy of competency domains for the health professions and competencies for physicians. Academic Medicine. 2013; 88 (8): 1088-1094.) 
3. Milestones for three levels of learner (novice, advanced beginner, and competent to perform the EPA with indirect supervision and supervisor checking key findings), adapted from the Pediatric Milestones, the Core EPA for Entering Residency Curriculum Developer's Guide, and the AAMC's Core EPA for Entering Residency Pilot Group's EPA toolkits. 
4. Expected Behaviors for each of the three levels based on the milestones 
5. Vignettes for each of the three levels 
6. An Assessment Tool for an individual observation of the EPA. Note: The assessment tool is uploaded to a software product that allows it to be used real-time via computer or hand-held devices.