Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for vascular surgery will launch in the fall of 2024.
There are a total of 15 core EPAs that will be evaluated for vascular surgery (VS). Click on an EPA below to read its full description:
* The Vascular Surgery EPAs are currently in a review process and are subject to change.
All applicants to the 2029 Vascular Surgery Qualifying Exam (VSQE) will be required to turn in a composite profile across all EPAs when they apply for the exam. In order to assist trainees in developing a robust composite profile, every resident should be assessed on every rotation.
All program faculty should be trained to function as assessors to promote reliability and validity of the assessment. While the requirement for an EPA profile as part of the ABS VSQE application process will not occur until 2029, use of EPAs for trainees at all PGY-levels to promote consistent habits of meaningful assessment and feedback, and to provide other assessment economies, is strongly encouraged as a best practice strategy.
For more details and information about EPA development, implementation, evaluation, and more, please review our FAQs.
In the months leading up to the launch of vascular surgery EPAs, the ABS will be hosting webinars and offering additional resources to help prime all training programs for the launch this fall. Dates will be announced soon, but please reference this timeline in the meantime to see which events you are interested in attending.
Dr. Brigitte K. Smith, Associate Professor of Vascular Surgery and Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Surgery at University of Wisconsin, presents a grand rounds on vascular surgery EPAs.
Programs can access a PDF of the slides used in this Grand Rounds presentation here.
Programs may request to have an ABS EPA Project Speakers Bureau representative present a Grand Rounds on EPAs at their local program, either virtually or in-person. To request a speaker, please complete this form.
The ABS team has produced a full suite of resources for programs to use during EPA implementation, which includes documents and guides, training videos, pre-recorded webinars, presentations, and more. Please note that any resource documents linked will be updated regularly.
Why is the change to EPAs needed and what do these changes mean for trainees and faculty? Members of the vascular surgery community share their views on why EPAs are a valuable education tool.
See the latest updates to the ABS EPA app in this recent webinar. The vascular surgery EPA suite will be available in the app when implementation begins later this year.
The implementation of general surgery EPAs began on July 1, 2023. Since then, trainees and staff have been using the ABS EPA app to create and complete assessments. The data below shows the most current EPA numbers. (Data as of December 31, 2023.)Â
Please use the form below to contact the appropriate department. They will respond as soon as possible.
