A tool to assess student performance in a Clostridium difficile infection simulation scenario

Development and validation of a performance-based palliative care assessment tool for student pharmacists

INTRODUCTION

Integration of hospice and palliative care principles within pharmacy curricula is essential to fill the need of pharmacist training in this growing specialty. A formalized assessment tool to evaluate skill development does not exist for student pharmacists specific to palliative care. The objective of this study was to develop a valid and reliable, palliative care-focused, performance-based assessment tool for student pharmacists.

METHODS

Eight academic palliative care (PC) pharmacists were recruited for the workgroup to perform domain development, validation, tool creation, and reliability testing for this performance-based assessment tool. Hospice and palliative care clinical pharmacist entrustable professional activities (EPAs) served as the framework. Content validity testing utilized content validity index and scale universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) to determine level of agreement for activities included in the tool. Student volunteers completed a standardized patient case and workgroup members served as raters during the reliability testing phase. Interrater reliability was measured through calculation of Fleiss Kappa scores for each activity.

RESULTS

Out of 14 EPAs, nine were deemed "essential" to include in the tool. Thirty-four supporting activities for the nine essential EPAs were drafted. Two rounds of content validity testing were necessary to achieve S-CVI/UA of 0.9593. Consensus was reached from workgroup members for activities deemed necessary to include in the tool after questionnaire distribution utilizing a Fleiss Kappa cutoff >0.6.

CONCLUSIONS

This validated tool will afford colleges and schools of pharmacy with PC curricula an opportunity to assess student achievement of PC-specific skills and evaluate curricular effectiveness.

Performance on advanced pharmacy practice experiences after implementation of mock acute care patient simulations

INTRODUCTION

We sought to compare student performance on acute care advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) pre- and post-incorporation of mock acute care patient simulations into the curriculum.

METHODS

A series of mock acute care APPE simulations (MACAS) were developed and incorporated into Touro University California College of Pharmacy curriculum for first- and second-year pharmacy students. Results for student performance on Acute Care I and Acute Care II APPEs were collected for students who received none, one year, or two years of the MACAS. Student admission characteristics and didactic academic performance (grade point average [GPA]) were also gathered. Student characteristics and APPE performance were compared across cohorts of students who received none, one year, and two years of MACAS. Multivariate models were created to measure the impact of the MACAS while controlling for student characteristics.

RESULTS

The final cohort included 394 students. In unadjusted analyses, students with one or two years of MACAS received significantly higher preceptor acute care APPE evaluations for communication, professionalism, and patient scores vs. students who received no MACAS. In multivariate models controlling for age, gender, and undergraduate GPA, one year of MACAS increased student acute care APPE communication, professionalism, and patient care scores, relative to no MACAS. Similar increases in acute care APPE scores were seen for students who received two years of MACAS.

CONCLUSIONS

MACAs significantly improved acute care APPE scores relative to students with no MACAS. This improvement in acute care APPEs occurred after students received a single year of MACAS.

Implementation of Mock Acute Care Advance Pharmacy Practice Experience Simulations and an Assessment Rubric

Objective. To implement a mock acute care advanced pharmacy practice experience series into the didactic training of second-year pharmacy students and validate an accompanying assessment rubric. Methods. Three 90-minute acute care patient simulation laboratory sessions were developed with input from clinical specialists, preceptors, students, and faculty members. An accompanying student evaluation rubric was also developed. The assessment rubric was validated using pairs of preceptor raters to determine inter-rater reliability, along with predictive validity on advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) acute care scores. A student survey was also conducted. Results. The mock acute care APPEs were successfully implemented into the didactic curriculum. The assessment rubric had good inter-rater reliability and good predictive validity with acute care APPEs. Survey results indicated that students found the mock acute care APPE simulation laboratories useful. Conclusion. Other schools seeking to enhance their students' preparedness for and performance in acute care APPEs should consider implementing acute care APPE simulations in the didactic curriculum.