Dental education presents unique assessment challenges when attempting to measure the outcome of students’ daily clinical activity. Inspired by an emerging trend in graduate medical education focused on entrustable professional activities (EPAs), an Independence Scale for daily formative assessment was adapted and implemented at two US dental schools. The Independence Scale measures how much guidance a student received from their instructor during each dental procedure. These assessments are captured directly in the Electronic Health Record management system at the end of each patient encounter and can be used to make better entrustment decisions related to dental students’ clinical competence.
Learning Objectives:
Define and contrast Competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).
Demonstrate the use of an Independence Scale for daily formative clinical assessment in dental education.
Describe how assessing procedure independence over time can lead to better entrustment decisions.
Define and contrast Competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).
