Association for Dental Education in Europe

Learning together to improve oral health and quality of life

EPAs and Entrustment in Dental Education: Factors Influencing Supervisor

Thursday, 21st August 2025 - 11:30 to 13:00
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Venue: 

Maharry Auditorium TCDBS

Session type: 
Type 4: Organised, planned and delivered by an external group without input from ADEE
Pre-register as part of your ADEE 2025 meeting registration
Session synopsis: 
Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are units of professional practice which can be trusted on a certain level to the dental student.

During the past years we presented and shared the experiences related to working with EPAs in the dental school in Nijmegen, Radboudumc. There is currently significant interest on working with EPAs in dental education. Therefore, we would like to build on the 2024 workshop in Leuven. In the current workshop we dive deeper into entrustment in dental education and the factors that influence supervisors’ decisions on entrustment. We discuss scientific research on this topic, and exchange practical experiences.

The focus of this workshop is on entrustment decision making and the factors that influence these decisions. This sessions’ main goal is to share our vision and approach to entrustment decisions, specifically in the dental context, and to discuss the application of the principles of entrustment in this context.

Programme: 

11:30

Welcome

11:40

Theory on EPAs and entrustment

11:55

Results of scientific research on entrustment decisions

12:10

Practical experiences

12:20

Group work

12:40

Plenary discussion

12:55

Wrap up
Chair: 

Wietske Fokkinga

Program leader of revision of the Bachelor curriculum
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Dentistry

Dr. Wietske Fokkinga is Associate Professor, Leader in Education, course director, and lecturer in undergraduate dental education at Radboud University Medical Center. She has been involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) since 2017. She was co-promotor of the PhD project of Dr. Elske Hissínk on EPAs and adaptive expertise.

Further, she led the revision of the Bachelor of Dentistry curriculum and served for twelve years as Chair of the Educational Committee. Alongside her academic and educational responsibilities, she practices restorative dentistry at the Centre for Complex Dentistry, providing referral-based patient care.

Wietske is faculty member of the international online EPA course and has been involved in national and international initiatives on EPA implementation in dental education, including workshops and lectures on working with entrustment and EPAs in dental education.

Elske Hissink

PhD candidate “Development of adaptive expertise in an EPA based curriculum”
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Dentistry

Dr. Elske Hissink is an educationalist and researcher in dental education at Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 

She has a background in educational sciences and extensive experience in curriculum development, assessment, and innovation in health professions education. Her research focuses on the implementation of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), entrustment decision-making, and the development of clinical learning environments that support students’ transition towards professional autonomy.

Elske completed her PhD research on adaptive expertise and EPA-based education in 2026 and has been involved in national and international initiatives on EPA implementation in dental education. She is faculty member of the international online EPA course. In addition to her research activities, she contributes to faculty development, educational innovation, and workshops on EPAs and competency-based education.

Learning Outcomes: 

The session aims to assits participants:

  1. know and understand the principles of entrustment;
  2. have insight in supervision levels and ad hoc and summative entrustment decisions;
  3. have insight in the factors that influence entrustment decisions and are able to apply this to their own clinical context.