Entrustable professional activities in dental education: a scoping review

Background Competency-based education has led to the introduction of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in health sciences education. EPAs are assessment tools that serve to certify a trainee's preparedness to conduct a given clinical activity. Objective Given its modest introduction into dental education, we sought to examine the current situation of EPAs in our field and identify possible barriers and facilitators. This review aimed to summarise evidence about EPA introduction in dental education programmes.Data sources A review of articles published between January 2005 and December 2021 was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews methodology in three databases (PubMed, Cochrane and Embase).Data selection Keywords were 'entrustable professional activity' OR 'entrustable professional activities' AND 'dentistry' OR 'dental education'.Data extraction Eligibility criteria targeted papers published in English describing dental education EPA.Data synthesis Ten publications were selected: six reported on new EPAs, three discussed their relevance for dental education and one article described a process for developing validated EPAs. EPAs focused on clinical examination, health promotion, treatment planning, pain and/or anxiety control and topics related to a specific discipline or care procedures.Conclusion Topics covered by EPAs described in our study adequately reflect the specificities of today's dental professional. The benefits of EPAs will ensure tomorrow's dentists consistently meet societal expectations.