Evolution of a capstone exam for third-year doctor of pharmacy students.

Background And Purpose: Pharmacy capstone exams are an example of an assessment strategy to evaluate student competency and practice-readiness. Capstone exam processes have been discussed in the literature; however, description of format, evolution of the process, and implementation in the year prior to rotations is lacking. This manuscript discusses the development, implementation, and utilization of a third professional year pharmacy capstone exam to assess advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) readiness.

Evaluating the quality of multiple-choice questions in a NAPLEX preparation book.

Introduction: There is a plethora of preparatory books and guides available to help study for the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX). However, the quality of questions included has not been scrutinized. Our objective was to evaluate the quality of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) construction in a commonly used NAPLEX preparatory book.

Effectiveness of a pharmacy teaching certificate program offered to practicing pharmacists.

Introduction: Regardless of the practice setting, pharmacists' roles often expand beyond patient-centered services and into health-related educational roles for patients, healthcare providers, and student pharmacists. Teaching roles of a clinical pharmacist can include providing invited presentations (such as continuing education lectures), teaching colleagues about new clinical initiatives, precepting students during advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) and introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs), and precepting residents on rotations. This program was designed to evaluate the effect of a university-affiliated pharmacy teaching certificate program on participant knowledge and perceived confidence in specific areas of academic pharmacy and preceptor development.

Predicting success in pharmaceutical calculations.

Introduction: Understanding preadmission predictors of success in pharmacy calculations, an important aspect of pharmacy practice, could impact admissions selection and advising practices. The objective of this study was to determine which student specific preadmission variables best predict success in a pharmaceutical calculations course.

Methods: Preadmission data from 388 students who completed a one semester pharmaceutical calculations course between 2013 and 2016 were evaluated.

How-to-guide for writing multiple choice questions for the pharmacy instructor.

Background: Writing multiple choice questions (MCQ) takes a lot of practice. Often, pharmacy practitioners lack the training to write effective MCQ. Sources for instruction in effective MCQ writing can be overwhelming with numerous suggestions of what should and should not be done.

Student perceptions of group examinations as a method of exam review in pharmacotherapeutics.

Objective: Evaluate student perceptions of learning outcomes, group dynamics, and team-based skill development during group-retake exams in pharmacy education.

Design: Group-retake examinations utilizing distributed practice were implemented in a pharmacotherapeutics course to serve as a post-individual exam review. A survey was designed to assess student perceptions of these group-retake exams.