Abstracts
Abstract
This paper about Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) was solicited to support the discussion about the future of licensing within the Medical Council of Canada. EPAs, units of professional practice to be entrusted to learners or professionals once they have shown to possess sufficient competence, were proposed in 2005 to operationalize competency-based postgraduate medical education and have become widely popular for various health professions education programs in many countries.
EPAs break the breadth of competence for license down to units of practice that can be overseen, assessed, monitored, documented, and entrusted. EPAs together may constitute an individual's portfolio of qualifications, and define a scope of practice. A medical license and a specialty certification can then be defined as the required combination of EPAs for which one is qualified at any specific moment in time. That 'snapshot' could change over time and reflect the professional development of the individual, both in their competence and in their privileges to practice. Micro-credentialing and digital badges might become an adequate option to show-case one's scope of practice at any time and operationalize the idea of a dynamic portfolio of EPAs.
Résumé
Cet article sur les activités professionnelles confiables (APC) a été sollicité pour alimenter la discussion sur l’avenir du titre de licencié au sein du Conseil médical du Canada. En 2005, il a été proposé de se servir des APC, unités de pratique professionnelle qui peuvent être confiées aux apprenants ou aux professionnels une fois qu’ils ont démontré avoir le niveau de compétence nécessaire, pour opérationnaliser la formation médicale postdoctorale basée sur les compétences; depuis, elles sont devenues courantes dans les programmes de formation aux professions de la santé dans de nombreux pays.
Les APC décomposent l’étendue des compétences pour l’obtention d’une licence en unités de pratique qui peuvent être supervisées, évaluées, contrôlées, documentées et confiées. Ensemble, les APC peuvent constituer le portfolio de qualifications d’un individu et définir un champ d’exercice. Le titre de licencié et le certificat de spécialité peuvent alors être définis comme représentant la combinaison d’APC qu’une personne est qualifiée à exercer à un moment donné. Ce « cliché instantané » peut changer au fil du temps, reflétant le développement professionnel de la personne, tant sur le plan de ses compétences que de ses privilèges d’exercice. Les micro-titres de compétences et le badge numérique pourraient devenir une option adéquate pour présenter à tout moment le champ de pratique d’un médecin et rendre opérationnelle l’idée d’un portfolio dynamique d’APC.
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Appendices
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