Development of undergraduate nursing entrustable professional activities to enhance clinical care and practice

Siew Tiang Lau; Emily Ang; Dujeepa D Samarasekera; Shefaly Shorey

doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104347

Development of undergraduate nursing entrustable professional activities to enhance clinical care and practice

Nurse Educ Today. 2020 Apr:87:104347. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104347. Epub 2020 Jan 23.

Authors

Siew Tiang Lau¹, Emily Ang², Dujeepa D Samarasekera³, Shefaly Shorey⁴

Affiliations

¹ Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 2, Clinical Research Centre, Block MD11, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: nurlst@nus.edu.sg.
² Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 2, Clinical Research Centre, Block MD11, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: nuranke@nus.eu.sg.
³ Centre for Medical Education, National University of Singapore, Level 5, Clinical Research Centre, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: meddds@nus.edu.sg.
⁴ Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Level 2, Clinical Research Centre, Block MD11, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: nurssh@nus.edu.sg.

PMID: 32004948
DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104347

Abstract

Background: Nursing education adopts a time-based approach to assess the multifaceted competencies of student nurses. The competency-based approach is preferred historically as it is practical and ensures that individuals deliver effective healthcare practice. However, there remains a gap on how these competencies are actually applied in nursing practice. To facilitate the connection between competencies, competency-based education, and nursing practice, entrustable professional activities (EPAs) can be utilized to translate competencies into clinical practice. EPAs have shown promising results across multiple healthcare specialties and have become the current driving force to facilitate nursing care and practice. Given the limited information of EPAs in nursing education, it is an opportune time to develop EPAs specific to nursing care and practice.

Objectives: To provide a detailed breakdown on the development of EPAs in nursing education to inform clinical care and practice.

Methods: The development stages of EPAs included: i) the formation of a team, ii) the development of the conceptual framework, and iii) the pooling, reviewing, and revising of core EPAs.

Results: A total of ten core EPAs were developed, with sub-EPAs nested within these core EPAs. The EPAs include: 1) patient engagement, 2) patient care and practice, 3) care management, 4) common procedures, 5) safety, 6) urgent care, 7) transition care, 8) patient education, 9) interprofessional collaboration, and 10) palliative care.

Conclusion: The development of EPAs specific to nursing care and practice may offer nursing programs a guide to assist with curricula planning and a basis for developing entrustment assessment tools. The unfamiliarity of EPAs in nursing education may pose as implementation challenges to EPAs. Future research is warranted to evaluate and improve the developed EPAs.

Keywords: Competency-based; Entrustable professional activities; Nursing care; Nursing education; Nursing practice.

MeSH terms

Clinical Competence / standards*
Competency-Based Education / standards*
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate
Educational Measurement*
Humans
Nursing Care*
Program Development
Qualitative Research
Students, Nursing