E‐portfolios and Entrustable Professional Activities to support competency‐based education in dietetics

AbstractThe concept of Entrustable Professional Activities, recently pioneered in medical education, has emerged to support the implementation of competency‐based education. Although competency‐based frameworks are widely used in healthcare professional education to develop outcomes‐based curricula, assessment of student competency in professional placement settings remains challenging. The novel concept of Entrustable Professional Activities together with established methods of competency assessment, namely e‐portfolios and self‐assessment, was implemented in the “[La Trobe University Dietetic program in 2015–2016. This study aimed to appraise the e‐portfolio and evaluate the use of Entrustable Professional Activities to assess competence. A mixed‐methods evaluation, using qualitative and quantitative surveys with follow‐up structured consultations, was conducted with final year dietetics students and their supervisors. Dietetics students were comfortable with Entrustable Professional Activities and competency‐based assessment, whereas supervisors preferred Entrustable Professional Activity based assessment. All stakeholders valued student self‐assessment and the ongoing use of structured e‐portfolios to develop and document competency. The use of structured e‐portfolios, student self‐assessment, and the emerging concept of Entrustable Professional Activities are useful tools to support dietetics student education in professional placement settings.