The “Growth Instant Feedback Tool (GIFTool)” Workplace-Based Assessment of Entrustable Professional Activity Performance: Preliminary Evidence for Validity

Abstract

Background Prior validity studies of workplace-based assessments for use with Entrustable Professional Activities have largely adopted a framework of supervision. We created a digital workplace-based assessment, the Growth-promoting Instant Feedback Tool (GIFTool), which utilizes a coaching framework and prompts supervisors with pre-determined feedback options so students can easily receive substantive real-time feedback. Our objectives were to assess the feasibility and validity evidence of the GIFTool. Methods With input from the literature and content experts, we created a digital application where supervisors assess the level of coaching required, one strength and one area for improvement in eight Entrustable Professional Activity-related domains. We explored data from one year through descriptive statistics and analyses focused on relations to other variables and fairness. Results Our development process contributed to the tool’s content validity. Students on average completed 28.8 assessments with 100% completion rate. We found the tool discriminated between learners within and between domains, with no differences by gender for all domains and for under-represented-in-medicine status for six domains. We found strengths and areas for improvement that were consistent with typical student trajectories. There were statistically significant correlations between the GIFTool and end-of-clerkship assessments (R values 0.27–0.51). Conclusions We found the GIFTool is a feasible tool with some promising evidence of validity.