Core competencies for research training in the clinical pharmaceutical sciences.

Objective: To identify and apply core competencies for training students enrolled in the clinical pharmaceutical scientist PhD training program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.

Design: Faculty members reached consensus on the required core competencies for the program and mapped them to curricular and experiential requirements.

Assessment: A rubric was created based on core competencies spanning 8 major categories of proficiency, and competencies of clinical versus traditional PhD training were delineated. A retrospective evaluation of the written comprehensive examinations of 12 former students was conducted using the rubric. Students scored above satisfactory in 11 out of 14 comprehensive examination metrics, with a mean score greater than 3.8 on a 5-point scale.

Conclusions: The core competencies identified will provide an essential foundation for informed decision-making and assessment of PhD training in the clinical pharmaceutical sciences.