Can incoming United States pediatric interns be entrusted with the essential communication skills of informed consent?

According to the entrustable professional activities (EPA) for entering residency by the Association of American Medical Colleges, incoming residents are expected to independently obtain informed consent for procedures they are likely to perform. This requires residents to not only inform their patients but to ensure comprehension of that information. We assessed the communication skills demonstrated by 372 incoming pediatric interns between 2007 and 2018 at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, obtaining informed consent for a lumbar puncture. During a simulated case in which interns were tasked with obtaining informed consent for a lumbar puncture, a standardized patient evaluated interns by rating 7 communication-based survey items using 5-point Likert scale from “poor” to “excellent.” We then converted the scale to a numerical system and calculated intern proficiency scores (sum of ratings for each resident) and average item performance (average item rating across all interns).