# Are EPAs Actually Working? An Honest Look at Competency-Based Surgical Training

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171/are-epas-actually-working-an-honest-look-at-competency-based-surgical-training
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171/are-epas-actually-working-an-honest-look-at-competency-based-surgical-training.md
Podcast: [Behind The Knife: The Surgery Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171)
Published: 2026-07-02T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8917317
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/arttrk.com/p/ABMA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8917317.mp3?modified=1782925807&sid=5046960&source=rss
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171/episodes/are-epas-actually-working-an-honest-look-at-competency-based-surgical-training
Duration seconds: 2232

## Resource

Two years into the EPA era — are we actually training surgeons differently, or just checking new boxes? In this episode, Behind the Knife co-director and Duke Trauma Surgeon Dr. Patrick Georgoff and Behind the Knife surgical education fellows Dr. Agnes Premkumar and Dr. Emma Burke sit down with Dr. Ruchi Thanawala, thoracic surgeon at OHSU, informatician, and founder of Firefly Labs, to get an honest look at the state of competency-based surgical education. We dig into why surgery is uniquely hard to assess, what the data are actually showing (spoiler: significant skewing, and we're not ready to make promotion decisions off it yet), and why collecting assessments is only 25% of the work. If you've ever wondered whether EPAs are moving the needle or just adding noise, this one's for you ***FREE EPA COURSE: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/epa-playbook Simply create an account on behindtheknife.org or our app and you the course will automatically show up in your Library. Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more. If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://behindtheknife.org/listen Behind the Knife Premium: https://behindtheknife.org/premium Oral Board Review: https://behindtheknife.org/oral-board Oral Board Simulator: https://behindtheknife.org/oral-board/simulator General Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/general-surgery-oral-board-review Trauma Surgery Video Atlas: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/trauma-surgery-video-atlas Dominate Surgery: A High-Yield Guide to Your Surgery Clerkship: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/dominate-surgery-a-high-yield-guide-to-your-surgery-clerkship Dominate Surgery for APPs: A High-Yield Guide to Your…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171/episodes/are-epas-actually-working-an-honest-look-at-competency-based-surgical-training/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-knife-the-surgery-podcast-321171/are-epas-actually-working-an-honest-look-at-competency-based-surgical-training.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.