A Scoping Review of the Application of Entrustable Professional Activities in the Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum

Purpose: Most developed countries have adopted entrustable professional activities in their graduate and under-graduate medical education curricula. This scoping review evaluates the evidence regarding the development, implementation, and assessment of entrustable professional activities -based curricula, particularly in undergraduate medical education, in the context of developing countries. Method: We identified 17 articles published between January, 2010, and December, 2022, from the MEDLINE/PubMed database and via Google search to evaluate entrustable professional activities application status in the undergraduate medical education. PRISMA guidelines were followed, and the population, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO) strategy was used for constructing the research question. Data were collected, tabulated, and analyzed in MS Excel. Results: Of the 17 articles, most (n ¼ 14) were from America and Europe, 2 were from India, and 1 was from Mexico; 8 of them were perspective studies. Six of these studies addressed the development of entrustable professional activities, 4 studied their assessment, and 3 studied the implementation of entrustable professional activities; 3 studies addressed both the development and implementation of entrustable professional activities, whereas 1 study addressed the development and assessment. Heterogeneity was observed in the methods of development, implementation, and assessment of entrustable professional activities in these studies. Conclusion: Entrustable professional activities have not been given considerable attention in developing countries yet. Given the lack of consensus on its development, implementation, and assessment, this review highlights the need for a well-defined, specialty-specific entrustable professional activities framework for undergraduate medical education closely aligned to that for GME. This would help students gain competence from the entry level. Moreover, effective implementation of entrustable professional activities requires a shared glossary to avoid confusions among medical students and educators in the interpretation of terms owing to cultural differences worldwide and thus prevent ambiguity in entrustable professional activities application globally.