Clinical pharmacy has a rich history of advancing practice through innovation. These innovations helped to mold clinical pharmacy into a patient‐centered discipline recognized for its contributions ...to improving medication therapy outcomes. However, innovations in clinical pharmacy practice have now waned. In our view, the growth of academic–practice partnerships could reverse this trend and stimulate innovation among the next generation of pioneering clinical pharmacists. Although collaboration facilitates innovation, academic institutions and health care systems/organizations are not taking full advantage of this opportunity. The academic–practice partnership can be optimized by making both partners accountable for the desired outcomes of their collaboration, fostering symbiotic relationships that promote value‐added clinical pharmacy services and emphasizing continuous quality improvement in the delivery of these services. Optimizing academic–practice collaboration on a broader scale requires both partners to adopt a culture that provides for dedicated time to pursue innovation, establishes mechanisms to incubate ideas, recognizes where motivation and vision align, and supports the purpose of the partnership. With appropriate leadership and support, a shift in current professional education and training practices, and a commitment to cultivate future innovators, the academic–practice partnership can develop new and innovative practice advancements that will improve patient outcomes.
Objective. To define essential skills for Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) graduates that are needed in the four most common sectors of pharmacy practice as determined by expert faculty who instruct ...within pharmacy skills laboratories.
Methods. A three-round Delphi method was used to establish consensus. In the first round, participants were asked what skills were needed by students at entry to practice in community, health-system, ambulatory care, and managed care pharmacy settings. In rounds two and three, participants were asked to rate each skill with a level of importance using a 10-point Likert scale (1=not important to 10=very important).
Results. In round one, participants produced a collective list of 289 essential skills. These skill statements were sent to participants in rounds two and three to assign a level of importance. After the third round, participants reached consensus using a mean level of importance for a final list of 69 community pharmacy skills, 47 health-system, 60 ambulatory care, and 15 managed care skills. These skills were then mapped to entrustable professional activities domains for schools and colleges pharmacy to use as a resource when assessing core competency development in the curriculum.
Conclusion. The Delphi technique was used successfully with expert pharmacy skills laboratory faculty to identify laboratory-focused essential skills that recent PharmD graduates should have prior to entering community, health-system, ambulatory care, or managed care pharmacy practice. These essential skills can be used to guide curriculum development, develop milestone markers, and help ensure students are practice ready.
Background:
Mentors often provide advice to students regarding selection of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) rotations to strengthen their candidacy for a residency position. However, the ...impact of APPE characteristics on the chances of matching is unknown.
Objective:
To determine the impact of APPE characteristics on Post Graduate Year-1 (PGY1) residency match rates at a Midwest US college of pharmacy.
Methods:
Graduates from a single college of pharmacy who participated in the PGY1 match in 2015 or 2016 were included. Match data were obtained from National Matching Services. APPE characteristics (e.g., rotation timing relative to the Midyear Clinical Meeting MCM, rotation type, and setting) were stratified by matched status. Independent predictors were identified using multivariate logistic regression and tree-based models.
Results:
Ninety-nine students were included with 57 matching (57.6%). Students completing an infectious diseases rotation (75 vs. 51%; p = 0.028), a hospital rotation before the MCM (67 vs. 47%; p = 0.039), or a rotation in an ambulatory care clinic (67 vs. 47%; p = 0.045) were more likely to match. Students completing an independent community pharmacy rotation were less likely to match (8.3 vs. 64%; p < 0.001). After multivariate adjustment, all of these factors were associated with the likelihood of matching except completion of an infectious diseases (p = 0.077) or ambulatory care rotation (p = 0.073).
Conclusion:
A hospital rotation prior to the MCM was positively associated with matching while completion of an independent community pharmacy rotation was associated with non-matched status. The utility of these findings in guiding APPE selections for students pursing residency should be explored.
Abstract
Purpose
Pharmacy technician training and education vary depending on practice site and state law. Although technician certification provides a national standard for credentialing, not all ...states require it, making certification a voluntary process for technicians or the organizations employing them. As the role of the pharmacist has evolved, the need for highly trained pharmacy technicians has grown. The pharmacy technician’s expanded role in specialized areas of pharmacy practice has created new opportunities that require advanced training.
Summary
Research is lacking on return on investment for workforce development programs, making it difficult to advocate for pharmacy technician training programs. Therefore, it is important to create internal metrics that link one’s program to business performance. This begins with conducting a job market analysis for the geographic area. It is imperative to identify the current occupational outlook for pharmacy technicians, identifying areas with potential for growth as well as where there are shortages or high turnover. Successful development of an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)–accredited pharmacy technician program requires a long-term strategy to address key market issues as well as social and economic barriers and financial data to secure funding.
Conclusion
This case study details Yale New Haven Hospital’s journey from proof of concept to implementation of an ASHP-ACPE–accredited pharmacy technician training program.
This study aimed to determine whether postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) pharmacy residents felt more prepared for residency training after having completed a Longitudinal Advanced Pharmacy Practice ...Experience (LAPPE) program during pharmacy school.
This was a multicenter, two-arm, cross-sectional study among PGY-1 pharmacy residents. The primary outcome was self-reported residency preparedness. Secondary outcomes included self-reported competency in key indicators for success during early residency and matching with a preferred residency program. A survey was developed to obtain these data and was sent via email to all residency program directors of qualifying programs, who then redistributed it to PGY-1 residents in their respective programs.
A total of 960 PGY-1 residents were included in the study. Of these, 180 (19%) reported prior participation in a LAPPE program. Longitudinal Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience participants reported increased preparedness for residency training as compared to nonparticipants (mean 6.18 vs 5.72 on a 7-point Likert scale; difference 0.46, 95% CI 0.309-0.618). Longitudinal Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience participation was also associated with greater self-reported clinical knowledge and skills (mean 5.18 vs 4.95, difference 0.23, 95% CI 0.093-0.372). Self-reported matching with a preferred residency program was common and similar between cohorts.
Postgraduate year 1 residents who had completed a LAPPE felt better prepared for residency than those who had not completed a LAPPE. Prior LAPPE participation was also associated with greater self-reported clinical knowledge and skills at the start of residency training.
Pharmacists and health care professionals are faced with increasing and changing health care needs around the world. To meet these demands, they are required to continuously upgrade and develop their ...professions. Reprofessionalization is therefore crucial to the successful delivery of health services, but traditional theories might provide little practical guidance to evaluating the overall status of a profession.
This study proposes a new conceptual framework of three interrelated professional sectors: education, regulation and practice, and uses it to identify and analyze challenges facing the pharmacy profession in Jordan.
A multiple-method qualitative study comprised of semi-structured interviews and focus groups was conducted in Amman, Jordan. To explore and identify the challenges, a purposively recruited cross-sector sample of 53 key informants, stakeholders and pharmacists were interviewed. Interview transcripts were translated and analyzed using QSR NVivo 10. Thematic analysis identified eight main challenges facing pharmacy in Jordan. The original participants were then invited to participate in focus groups, the purpose of which was to validate the interview findings, map them against the conceptual framework and discuss recommendations for development.
The eight validated challenges span the following areas: graduates preparedness for practice, pharmacy education accreditation and quality assurance, pre-registration requirements, workforce development, workforce planning, remuneration and wage rate, pharmacy assistants, and Pharm.D. pharmacists. Focus group participants used the framework to map each of the challenges to the primary sector-to-sector disconnect that they perceived to explain it. A list of recommendations addressing each of the challenges was also devised.
The framework was found to offer valuable insight as an explanatory and diagnostic tool in policy-relevant research. By emphasizing the processual and contextual nature of reprofessionalization, the framework presents an alternative approach to traditional theories. This study also raises important questions regarding the status of pharmacy in Jordan and aims to provide guidance for local development and much-needed reprofessionalization drives.
Pharmacy colleges and schools invest substantial faculty effort and financial resources in North America Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX) preparation, including vendor products purported to improve ...NAPLEX pass rates. The objective of this project was to examine NAPLEX preparation program characteristics associated with first-time pass rates.
A national survey investigated which pharmacy schools provided a formal NAPLEX preparation program in the 2021/2022 academic year, and what resources students were required to use. Pharmacy school characteristics and the unique resources provided in NAPLEX preparation programs were separately analyzed for association with 2022 NAPLEX first-time pass rates.
The survey response rate was 71% (100 pharmacy schools). Of the 6 pharmacy school characteristics analyzed, offering a formal NAPLEX preparation program and private status were both weakly correlated with a decrease in the 2022 NAPLEX pass rate, while founding year of 2000 or earlier was weakly correlated with an increase in the pass rate. In a generalized linear model, a decrease in 2022 NAPLEX pass rate was associated with offering a formal NAPLEX preparation program (-5.90% -11.55 to -0.23) and with a 3-year accelerated curriculum (-9.15% -15.55 to -2.75). Of 12 resources required in NAPLEX preparation programs, 3 were weakly correlated with a decrease in 2022 pass rate: a vendor question bank, vendor review book/materials, and a live, synchronous faculty-led review. In a generalized linear model, a decrease in 2022 NAPLEX pass rate was associated with a live, synchronous faculty-led review (-6.62% -11.16 to -2.08). Among schools without a formal preparation program, NAPLEX pass rates consistently exceeded the national average in 2020, 2021, and 2022, while the proportion of schools with NAPLEX preparation programs and first-time pass rates above the national average dropped from 59% in 2021 and 58% in 2020 to 44% in 2022.
Simply implementing a NAPLEX preparation program is insufficient to overcome other systemic/programmatic influences of successfully passing the NAPLEX; programs should invest earlier resources to address NAPLEX competencies.
Little is known about the relationship between learner load and pharmacist and pharmacy technician burnout. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the association between burnout and the ...number of learners (residents, students, and new employees) assigned to pharmacists or pharmacy technicians.
A validated survey to measure burnout and professional fulfillment was administered to employees of a university health system's pharmacy service in 2019. A threshold analysis determined the optimal cutoff for number of learners trained that maximized the ability to predict binary outcomes. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used, and effect sizes between percentages were reported. Finally, the adjusted associations between number of learners and outcomes were assessed using logistic regression.
A total of 448 pharmacy staff members were included in the analysis. Of those, 57% (n = 254) worked in ambulatory care, 27.4% (n = 122) worked in an inpatient setting, and 15.7% (n = 70) worked in infrastructure. Pharmacists working in an inpatient setting who reported training 4 or more learners per year indicated significantly higher rates of burnout than those training fewer learners on both a single-item burnout assessment (64.3% vs 31.0%; P = 0.01; effect size, 0.68) and a 10-item burnout assessment (54.8% vs 13.8%; P = 0.01; effect size, 0.91). Similar results were not observed in pharmacists working in ambulatory care and infrastructure positions or in pharmacy technicians.
Added precepting and training responsibilities may be associated with higher levels of burnout among pharmacy team members, particularly inpatient pharmacists.
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