ACG and The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Publish Entrustable Professional Activities for Advanced IBD Fellowship Training in the U.S.

The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation (the Foundation) are proud to announce their joint publication of “Development of Entrustable Professional Activities for Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellowship Training in the United States” in both The American Journal of Gastroenterology and the Foundation’s journal, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

The two organizations convened a task force to develop Advanced IBD Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) to represent the expertise of an Advanced IBD physician and illustrate the differences between Advanced IBD physicians and other clinicians. A critical aspect of the EPA development was identifying physician work that should be core to a general gastroenterologist in the United States versus that which should set apart an expert in IBD.

A guide for Curriculum Development in Advanced IBD

This defined list of key physician activities is expected to serve as a guide for developing advanced IBD fellowship curricula by providing advanced fellows a more specific framing of the entrustment tasks expected by the end of fellowship. On a broader level, the advanced IBD EPAs serve as a consensus statement for what constitutes an IBD expert in practice.  

Learn more

A complete overview of the Task Force methodologies and recommendations can be found in  Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Cohen, et al., “Development of Entrustable Professional Activities for Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellowship Training in the United States.” 

A summary, highlights and key tables are available in The American Journal of Gastroenterology Red Section. 

About Entrustable Professional Activities

Entrustable Professional Activities are designed to link competencies to clinical practice and operationalize them in a measurable manner. They are defined as the comprehensive set of tasks or responsibilities that any practicing subspecialist should be capable of performing in their particular field. They were conceived in part to address the concern that competency frameworks would otherwise be too theoretical to be useful for training and assessment in daily practice. An EPA must be detailed enough to both set trainee expectations as well as guide assessment and entrustment decisions by supervisors. EPAs also offer curriculum developers and teachers tangible goals for aligning teaching and training with clinical practice. The Knowledge Skills and Practice supporting each EPA in this joint document serve as curricular milestones and contain more granular language for observable outcomes that must be demonstrated to establish competence. 

Authors and Task Force Members:

Benjamin L. Cohen, MD, MAS, Zane R. Gallinger, MD, Christina Ha, MD, FACG, Stefan D. Holubar, MD, MS, Jason K. Hou, MD, MS, FACG, Jami Kinnucan, MD, Uma Mahadevan, MD, FACG, Alan C. Moss, MD, FACG, Laura E. Raffals, MD, MS, FACG, Miguel Regueiro, MD, FACG, Eva Szigethy, MD, PhD, FACG, Douglas Wolf, MD, FACG, Marla C. Dubinsky, MD, Anish A. Patel, DO, FACG, Brijen J. Shah, MD, Orna G. Ehrlich, MPH, Bradley C. Stillman, Esq., Maria T. Susano, Stephen B. Hanauer, MD, MACG

About the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation is the leading non-profit organization focused on both research and patient support for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Foundation’s mission is to cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life for the millions of Americans living with IBD. For over 50 years, we have been inspiring and engaging patients and caregivers in the country’s largest IBD community and helping to dramatically accelerate the pace of research by breaking down traditional barriers to patients, data, funding, and collaborations. We also provide extensive educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public. For more information, visit www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org, call 888-694-8872, or email [email protected].