preparedEPA assessment system

We created two articles with videos for you, depending on your role. 

If you are a trainee, click here.

If you are a supervisor, click here. To learn more about viewing your trainees' profiles and learning goals, click here.

Attending physicians with the corresponding specialist, who are responsible for the supervision of residents and have been trained with the "preparedEPA" tool through external or internal training, should take on this role. They must be approved by the administrator. The administrators must also ensure that the list of activated supervisors is always up-to-date. If a supervisor leaves the training institution, the supervisor status of the respective person must be revoked.

If you follow the procedure described above for the change, it should work. In some cases, it may be necessary to close the preparedEPA app completely after changing the profile and then open it again. This should activate the new profile.

If you are an attending physician and responsible for the supervision of residents at your institution, simply select the role "supervisor" in your account settings. Your request to change roles will be sent to your institution admin, who will approve (or reject) it. As soon as they have confirmed you, you will be able to scan QR codes and do assessments with your trainees. 

TIPP: If you are new to the supervisor role, use the guided feedback option after the assessment comparison screen in the app to receive valuable tipps and trick on how to give feedback. 

We created two articles with videos for you, depending on your role. 

If you are a trainee, click here. TIPP: You can initially fill your EPA profile quickly to get started. Click here to learn how.

If you are a supervisor, click here. TIPP: You can add a learning goal to each assessment. Click here to learn how.

This is quite simple. After selecting the EPA, a "Document self-assessment" field appears below the QR code. Simply click on it and then enter the self-assessment. The workflow then leads you to a self-reflection and at the end you can directly enter a learning goal.

Alternatively, a self-assessment can also be started by selecting an EPA under "My Curriculum".

Theoretically, this is possible. However, various studies have shown a so-called "recall bias" if the assessment is not performed immediately after the clinical situation has been carried out. It is therefore advisable to perform the assessment as soon as possible after the performance of an EPA. Preferably immediately afterwards, in the first quiet moment, but certainly on the same day.

All learning goals a supervisor has documented for you initially end up in the "Suggested learning goals" in-box. If you as a trainee decide to accept the learning goal, you have to actively move it to "My goals" with one click. Only those learning goals in the list "My goals" will be shared with the supervisor together with the EPA profile.

If you do not want to accept a learning goal or if you have completed a learning goal, you can archive it by swiping left.

The color-coded preparedEPA competency profile contains a lot of useful information. Don’t worry. At the beginning, the abundance of information can be confusing. However, once you start working with preparedEPA, the profile will feel familiar very quickly.

The EPA Competency Profile contains the following information:

• Each row shows a specific EPA
• The left column shows assessment data for situations classified as "Simple";
  the right column shows assessment data for situations classified as "Complex".

Each EPA contains the following information:

• The rectangle represents self-assessments. The number indicates the number of self-assessments for the EPA, and the color coding of the rectangle reflects the "Level of Supervision" according to the self-assessment.
• The preparedEPA app works with the following color codes from light green (observe) to dark blue (supervise others).
• The circles represent the assessments by the supervisor and show the "Level of Supervision" for this EPA. The numbers in the circles show the number of assessments received from supervisors for the specific EPA. The circle with a white border marks the current competence level.
  
  

The 5 circles represent the 5 assessment levels for EPAs (with increasing autonomy from left to right):

Supervise others (dark blue)
= Supervision provided by the trainee to more junior colleagues: trainee supervises a more junior trainee to execute the task

Distant supervision (blue)
= Execution by the trainee, the supervisor is not in the room. Supervisor needs to be actively involved by the trainee and is available within 20-30min

Indirect supervision (dark green)
= Execution by the trainee, the supervisor is scrubbed in and helps, answers questions, and assists if prompted (reactive supervision)

Direct supervision (green)
= Execution by the trainee. Trainee knows consecutive steps of procedure. Supervisor supports directly and proactively

Observe (light green)
= Trainee is scrubbed-in and assists actively. Does not operate him/herself

Sharing the EPA profile helps your supervisors better support you in your learning journey. They will see your name in their app under "Trainees", where they can retrieve your EPA profile and list of (accepted) learning goals.

Sharing is optional, but highly recommended. You can share your profile for a limited period of time, or until you unshare (for example, when you move to another institution).

Also, you can share your data with your entire institution. Find more answers under the "Managing and sharing my data" section.

On the "Profile" page, click the filter icon on the top right and select the EPA set you want to view. 

To view all assessments to date, you need to export your EPA profile as a PDF.

To do so, go to your EPA profile  

and tap the "Export" button.

Select what you would like to export, and open the PDF to save or share it.

Export your EPA profile (see "Where can I see an overview of all assessments I have done so far?)

Choose any four assessments out of the list, and manually enter them into your SIWF logbook.

As we value data protection, we give you full control over what happens with your data. In that, we differentiate between two types of data: the "content" data of preparedEPA, i.e. your assessment, profile and account data, and the "usage" data of preparedEPA, i.e. when the app is used for how long, from where etc. 

Both data types can either be analyzed anonymously on an aggregated manner, or traceable to you. And here, you can decide for each category if you want to share the data or not:

Here's why we highly recommend you to turn on all of them

Allowing us to process your data anonymously helps us further develop the app for you, either directly of by conducting research with the data. 

All data are used for your advantage: if your institution can see your data, they can better support you on your learning journey, and plan tasks for you that you are competent for. 

Also, please share your profile with as many of your supervisors as possible, so they can individually support you on your learning journey as well. Read the according FAQ in this section to learn how.

Data storage

The assessment data collected via preparedEPA belong to the trainees and are transmitted in encrypted form to a web server located in Switzerland. All data is therefore stored in Switzerland.

Access by our team

Only selected members of the prepared team have access to the data via 2-factor authentication.

Residents can take their personal EPA profile with them wherever they go! This is especially helpful if the following training institution also works with preparedEPA. Then you can pick up right where you left off. If the new training institution is not yet using preparedEPA, self-assessments can still be performed. If the management of the new institution is interested in using preparedEPA as well, they can contact us any time at info@prepared.app.

The profile remains visible and is stored on a secured server for 10 years. This allows you to reactivate your personal EPA profile later, if desired.

You can share your profile to a supervisor either by tapping on the "Share" box on your home screen, or by tapping "share profile" on top of your EPA profile.

This only applies to sharing with a single supervisor. To share your data with your institution, please read the FAQ "What happens with my data?" in this section.

As these data belong to your trainee, you cannot access single assessments as a supervisor. On an aggregated level, you can view your activity by tapping on the "statistics" box on your home screen.

The trainees you do not see have not shared their profile with you. Ask them to so do, pointing out that you can better support their learning when you have access to their profile.

Your trainees can learn here how to share their profile. 

With lifelong learning in mind, we envision being able to be a supervisor and trainee at the same time within preparedEPA.

What you can do already now is to switch your role under "Settings" > "Edit" to "Trainee", and once you use the app as a supervisor again, change it back to "Supervisor". If you do so, you will not need to be confirmed again, so you can use the app as a supervisor immediately if you have been one before.