Entrustable Professional Activities in PTMH

An important innovation in the world of healthcare education is the transition from learning outcomes to Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). In short EPAs are the combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes that a professional needs to do his job well. There are no EPAs described for physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health yet. In this workshop we try to discover the specific skills and attitudes that we as professionals think are characteristic and essential for our profession.

An important innovation in the world of healthcare education is the transition from learning outcomes to Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). EPAs, defined as “a fundamental unit of professional practice that can be fully entrusted to a trainee once he or she has demonstrated the necessary competence to execute the specific activity unsupervised,” are increasingly forming the cornerstone of educational programs. Focusing on EPAs supports a whole-task approach to education, which aims to deal with the complexities of clinical reality in bringing together knowledge, skills and attitudes within the occupational context. For the physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health students, this means more room for introducing learning experiences and development goals from their own working environment and more attention for translating teaching methods into their personal working environment.

A first step in implementing EPAs in physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health education is to clarify which skills and attitudes are characteristic and essential within the field of physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health. The aim of the workshop is to formulate EPAs with which we can define the profession internationally. In this way education can be designed more effectively, and they offer guidance, structure and -above all- a concrete standard for the profession.

In the workshop, we organize brainstorm sessions about the skills and activities that are specific to physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health within a presented case. Each group is given a core activity (anamnesis, physical examination including questionnaires, diagnosis and treatment plan or treatment) that is used as a guideline.

1. Participants have knowledge about EPAs.
2. Participants can specify important skills of physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health.

When the EPAs of physiotherapy in psychiatry and mental health are clear, education can be designed more effectively. But above all clarification of the profession provides a stronger position in the field of mental health care.