The Need for Competency-Based Education.

Objectives: While pharmacy education updates learning as new information arises, changes to learning experiences can trail behind current practices and technology. There have been multiple calls for radical changes in how health professions education is delivered to ensure patients are receiving high-quality care. Competency-based education has been one way discussed in the literature for how to handle this need to develop students who have a willingness to learn and can problem-solve.

Competency-Based Education: The Need to Debunk Misconceptions and Develop a Common Language.

Competency-based education (CBE) dates back to the early 1900s. A renewed interest in CBE in health professions education has been sparked by the recommendations that emerged from the 2017 Josiah Macy Jr Foundation conference on CBE. These recommendations urge changes in structure and pedagogy to address gaps between societal needs, health care practice, and health professions education.

AACP's Strategic Commitment to Improving Pharmacy Education: Past, Present, and Future.

Since its founding in 1900, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has been focused on quality pharmacy education. As the Association and its institutional and individual members now consider contemporary issues in education, such as competency-based education, it is important to continue their collective work in the context of AACP's enduring mission: to advance pharmacy education, research, scholarship, practice, and service, in partnership with members and stakeholders, to improve health for all. While language, labels, and strategies evolve over time and across significant changes in social, economic, political, and health care environments, AACP's commitment to quality in education has been and must continue to be unwavering.

Recommitting to AACP Engaged Governance for the Common Good: Report of the 50th Anniversary Commission to Reimagine the AACP House of Delegates.

The 50th Anniversary Commission to Reimagine the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) House of Delegates (HOD Commission) was charged to consider and recommend changes to the AACP Board of Directors and AACP HOD regarding a broad range of issues related to the HOD. The 2021-2022 HOD Commission met virtually many times throughout the year as 2 sub-groups and a full commission, using Basecamp for shared documents and timelines, and it provided interim reports to the Board of Directors in November and February. A survey of 2022 delegates was developed and administered; responses from 163 delegates informed final recommendations as described in the report.

Recommendations and Next Steps For Competency-Based Pharmacy Education.

In July 2021, the chairs of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Council of Deans, Council of Faculties, and Council of Sections developed a task force to discuss potential ways to improve pharmacy education. The Competency-Based Education (CBE) Joint Task Force was created to explore the pros and cons of advancing a competency-based approach to pharmacy education (CBPE) and to determine ways to create more flexibility within pharmacy curricula to enable CBE. To achieve these goals, the Task Force systematically reviewed available resources and outlined the pros and cons of CBPE, best practices for implementation, strategies to minimize barriers, and recommendations on whether CBE should be implemented in pharmacy education.

Learning and Teaching Together to Advance Evidence-Based Clinical Education: A Faculty Learning Community.

Clinical teaching is a cornerstone of health sciences education; it is also the most challenging aspect. The University of Pittsburgh Schools of Dental Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy developed a new evidence-based interprofessional course framed as a faculty learning community (FLC) around the principles of learning in a clinical environment. The aim of this study was to assess the overall effectiveness of this two-semester FLC at four health professions schools in academic year 2014-15.

Evaluation of medical marijuana topics in the PharmD curriculum: A national survey of schools and colleges of pharmacy.

Introduction: To summarize the status of medical marijuana instruction in the PharmD curriculum and capture future plans for the incorporation of medical marijuana content.

Methods: One hundred and forty United States schools and colleges of pharmacy were contacted to complete an anonymous survey regarding inclusion of medical marijuana topics in their curriculum, future plans for inclusion, and evaluation of perceived importance of specific topics.

Results: Forty nine percent (68/140) of schools and colleges completed the survey and 62% (44/68) include medical marijuana content in their curriculum.

Entrustable Professional Activities as a Novel Framework for Pharmacy Education.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are units of measure for a particular profession that describe the professional's unique abilities and work. EPAs can be used in two ways: as a link between individual competencies for mastery and overall professional responsibilities in practice; and as a mechanism for faculty to assess the student's progression using levels of decreasing supervision. Currently used in medical education, implementation and utilization of EPAs within pharmacy education has potential benefits and challenges.

Geriatric care curriculum in US PharmD programs: What's happening?

Objectives: Current Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards are not explicit regarding geriatrics content. The objective of this review is to describe published examples of how care for older adults is integrated into Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curricula at accredited schools/colleges of pharmacy across the United States.

Methods: PubMed and Embase databases were searched.

Overview of Faculty Development Programs for Interprofessional Education.

To describe characteristics of faculty development programs designed to facilitate interprofessional education, and to compile recommendations for development, delivery, and assessment of such faculty development programs. MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, and Web of Science databases were searched using three keywords: faculty development, interprofessional education, and health professions. Articles meeting inclusion criteria were analyzed for emergent themes, including program design, delivery, participants, resources, and assessment.

Using the Pharmacist Interaction Tracking Tool for Capturing Student-Patient Interactions in Direct and Simulated Patient Care Activities.

Objective. To create and implement a standardized data collection tool for capturing student-patient interactions in direct and simulated patient care activities. Design.

Advancing Pharmacogenomics Education in the Core PharmD Curriculum through Student Personal Genomic Testing.

Objective: To develop, implement, and evaluate "Test2Learn" a program to enhance pharmacogenomics education through the use of personal genomic testing (PGT) and real genetic data.

Design: One hundred twenty-two second-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students in a required course were offered PGT as part of a larger program approach to teach pharmacogenomics within a robust ethical framework. The program added novel learning objectives, lecture materials, analysis tools, and exercises using individual-level and population-level genetic data.

Changes in Student Performance and Confidence with a Standardized Patient and Standardized Colleague Interprofessional Activity.

Objective: To assess the impact of a standardized patient and standardized colleague interprofessional activity on student performance and perceived confidence in communicating with patients and physicians.

Methods: Students in the third professional year were presented with a practice and final activity including a standardized patient interaction, SOAP note preparation, and standardized colleague interaction. Student performance was measured by assessment rubrics on practice and final activities.

The status of women in US academic pharmacy.

Objective: To describe the status of women in pharmacy education with particular focus on a 10-year update of a previous study.

Methods: Information was obtained from national databases, published reports, scholarly articles, and association websites. Comparisons were made between men and women regarding degree completion, rank, tenure status, leadership positions, research awards, salaries, and career advancement.

Development of an antimicrobial stewardship-based infectious diseases elective that incorporates human patient simulation technology.

Objective: To design an elective for pharmacy students that facilitates antimicrobial stewardship awareness, knowledge, and skill development by solving clinical cases, using human patient simulation technology.

Design: The elective was designed for PharmD students to describe principles and functions of stewardship programs, select, evaluate, refine, or redesign patient-specific plans for infectious diseases in the context of antimicrobial stewardship, and propose criteria and stewardship management strategies for an antimicrobial class at a health care institution. Teaching methods included active learning and lectures.

The roles of healthcare professionals in implementing clinical prevention and population health.

Across the health disciplines, clinical prevention and population health activities increasingly are recognized as integral to the practice of their professions. Most of the major clinical health professions organizations have begun incorporating clinical prevention and population health activities and services into educational curricula, the accreditation process, and training to affect clinical practice. Students in each health profession need to understand the roles played by those in other health professions.

Using the Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework to encourage curricular change.

The Healthy People Curriculum Task Force was established in 2002 to encourage implementation of Healthy People 2010 Objective 1.7: "To increase the proportion of schools of medicine, schools of nursing and health professional training schools whose basic curriculum for healthcare providers includes the core competencies in health promotion and disease prevention." In 2004, the Task Force published a Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework ("Framework") to help each profession assess and develop more robust approaches to this content in their training.

Interprofessional Forum and Competition, University of Pittsburgh.

Initiated in fall 2008, the annual Interprofessional Forum introduces the theme of interprofessional collaboration to an audience of approximately 600 first-year students drawn from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences (dental medicine, health and rehabilitation sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health). The required 2-hour program targets the following learning outcomes and goals: Illustrate the areas of expertise of various health professionals who provide patient care; Explore the importance of teamwork among health care providers from the patient's perspective, as well as to provide "complete" care and optimized patient functionality and quality of life; and Describe how health professions education programs are addressing interprofessional team skills and practice models.

Preparing pharmacy graduates for traditional and emerging career opportunities.

Educational programs in pharmacy must focus on educating pharmacists of the future who are prepared to serve as competent and confident health care "providers" whose "practice" can occur in any number of current and future settings; and whose expertise is essential to an interprofessional health care team. Graduates must be able to incorporate a scholarly approach to their practice in identifying patient care problems; practicing in an evidence-based manner; and ensuring safe, effective, and appropriate use of medications. It is time for colleges and schools of pharmacy to implement contemporary teaching and assessment strategies that facilitate effective and efficient student learning that is focused at the graduate professional level, to evolve the content around which the curriculum is organized, and clearly articulate the abilities graduates must have to function effectively in the myriad professional roles in which they may find themselves.

Instructor satisfaction with a technology-based resource for diabetes education.

Objectives: To evaluate instructor use patterns and satisfaction with DM Educate, a comprehensive, Web-based diabetes course.

Methods: Instructors completed a post-course survey instrument to assess their use of course materials and components, as well as satisfaction with the course content, design, and technology utilized, and to solicit their suggestions for additional content areas.

Results: Thirty-eight percent of respondents utilized DM Educate as a standalone elective and 62% had integrated materials into existing courses.

An advanced pharmacy practice experience in inpatient medication education.

Objective: To describe a unique advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) in which pharmacy students provided medication education to hospitalized patients.

Design: Students were trained to independently assess patients' needs for education and identify drug-related problems. Students then provided medication education and performed medication therapy management under the supervision of clinical staff pharmacists.

A Web-based interprofessional diabetes education course.

Objective: To develop a comprehensive diabetes management course for pharmacy students that is available to all colleges and schools of pharmacy via the Internet.

Design: DM Educate, a Web-based course consisting of 12 topic modules with video lectures, active-learning exercises, and test questions prepared by nationally recognized experts was developed. The modular design allows use as a standalone, 3-credit course or use of individual module content as a supplement to an existing course.