Development of a List of Competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities for Resident Physicians During Death Pronouncement: A Modified Delphi Study

Abstract

Purpose: Appropriate delivery of death pronouncements potentially affects bereaved families’ wellbeing positively. Younger physicians need to learn death pronouncement skills; currently, the competencies and entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in death pronouncement practice have not been clarified.Therefore, this study aimed to develop a list of competencies and EPAs necessary for death pronouncement practice, which resident physicians need to acquire by the end of their residency training (postgraduate year 2).Methods: An anonymous modified Delphi study was conducted with a panel of 31 experts. The experts were invited online from general wards in hospitals with resident physicians across Japan to participate in the study using the purposive and snowball sampling method. A non-anonymous web conference was held with three additional external evaluators to finalize the item list. The consensus criterion was defined as a mean response of at least 4 points on a 5-point Likert scale for each competency and EPA item and a rating of 4 or 5 points by at least 80% of the participants.Results: Consensus was achieved, with consistently high levels of agreement across panel members, on 11 competencies and 9 EPA items. Additionally, a correspondence matrix table between competencies and EPAs was developed.Conclusions: This study clarified the standardized educational outcomes for knowledge, skills, and attitudes in death pronouncement practice and the level of physicians who can perform this practice independently, serving as a blueprint to aid the development of an educational model and evaluation method for clinical educational institutions and developers of medical school curriculums.