Idaho State University

GENERAL ABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES FOR GRADUATES OF THE
IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
DOCTOR OF PHARMACY (Pharm.D.) PROGRAM

Spring, 2003

Introduction

The success of the curriculum in preparing graduates for the contemporary practice of pharmacy and provision of pharmaceutical care requires that there be a set of global competencies by which the program can be evaluated. The goals and outcome objectives formulated in this document reflect the College’s mission statement, current discussion within the profession regarding required basic knowledge and skills and specific content of the Pharm.D. curriculum, and expected practice activities of pharmacists in specific settings. The AACP Background Paper II and the APhA Pharmacy Practice Activity Classification document were used in preparation of this College assessment document.

College Mission Statement

The College of Pharmacy, an agent of the State of Idaho is a nationally recognized statewide program for the education of pharmacy practitioners in the delivery of pharmaceutical care. The mission includes the delivery of the highest quality prelicensure education, graduate education in the pharmaceutical and social/administrative sciences, and competency enhancement of pharmacy practitioners. As a major comprehensive health science academic program, the College is the State’s resource for scientific investigation of pharmacy-related health issues, and the largest repository for expertise in pharmacy practice in the State. Educational, service and research programs are tailored to meet the specific needs of the citizens of Idaho.

Pharm. D. Program Goals

The two major goals of the Doctor of Pharmacy program are:

1. To provide graduates with a basic core of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed by pharmacists to meet the professional competencies necessary to become generalists who practice pharmaceutical care.
2. To prepare graduates to assume leadership in the provision of pharmaceutical care and advance the practice of pharmacy.

The central theme of the Pharm.D. program is the delivery of pharmaceutical care, which is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient’s quality of life (Hepler & Strand, 1990). Pharmaceutical care involves the process through which a pharmacist collaborates with a patient and other professionals in designing, implementing, and monitoring a therapeutic plan that will produce specific therapeutic outcomes for the patient. This in turn involves three major functions: (1) identifying potential and actual drug-related problems; (2) resolving actual drug-related problems; and (3) preventing drug-related problems.

The philosophy of pharmaceutical care requires practitioners to utilize their knowledge and skills in order to identify individual patient-specific problems and create effective solutions for these problems. The practice of pharmaceutical care requires the skill of pharmaceutical diagnosis, which is the problem-centered, cognitive process used to identify patient-specific drug-related problems (Culbertson et al., 1997).

General Abilities In preparation to meet these overall goals, students must acquire general abilities in the following six areas:

1. Critical Thinking Abilities – In the acquisition and application of scientific concepts, pharmacy students must learn how to think critically. Pharmacy students must develop abilities that involve asking questions, defining problems, examining evidence, analyzing assumptions and biases, avoiding emotional reasoning and oversimplification, considering other interpretations, and tolerating ambiguity.
2. Problem-Solving Abilities – In the process of developing critical and scientific thinking skills, pharmacy students must learn and practice problem solving. In particular, they must be able to reflect how such skills could and will help them transfer fundamental scientific concepts to the clinical setting via the application of sound scientific principles to solve relevant pharmacy-related problems.
3. Professional Communication Abilities – As part of the acquisition of problem-solving abilities pharmacy students will master, in parallel, a set of professionally relevant and useful communication skills such that their critical thinking and problem-solving strategies can be further enhanced through the skillful and appropriate use of oral and written communication. This complex skill includes: delivery of clear and accurate information; congruence between one’s verbal and nonverbal messages; appropriate assertiveness; use of feedback to assess comprehension; and ability to communicate with a variety of populations. Pharmacy students should understand that the ability to communicate with a layperson is just as important as the ability to do so with a fellow health care professional or practitioner. As professionals, pharmacists must be able to do both adequately.
4. Resource Utilization – Pharmacy students will learn and master the process of searching for, retrieving, evaluating and managing information from a variety of professional resources (including computerized data bases, Internet resources, current/historical literature, and continuing education programs) to acquire the knowledge necessary to develop and implement a solution to a specific pharmacy-related problem, irrespective of practice setting.
5. Responsibility and Patient Outcomes – Students must be able to accept responsibility and accountability for patients’ pharmacotherapeutic outcomes. This activity entails: a) the recognition that there are various points in the process of patient care at which the pharmacist intervenes; b) the provision of appropriate intervention strategies; c) the generation and maintenance of appropriate patient records and documentation to assess outcomes.
6. Professionalism - Students must display the attitudes, behaviors, and values of a professional. Professionals are held to a high standard of conduct. Students are expected to meet these high standards throughout the curriculum and upon graduation. Such conduct includes: a) acting in a responsible manner; b) taking responsibility for one's actions; c) being courteous to others; d) demonstrating respect for others, including their beliefs and value systems; e) placing patient needs above one's own; f) acting with honesty and integrity; g) being reliable; h) acting as a role model for the profession ; and i) dressing, speaking, and acting in an appropriate manner.

Assessment Endpoint Abilities & Competencies

The four domains serving as the basis for categorization of endpoint abilities and competencies in this College assessment document come from the APhA Pharmacy Practice Activity Classification System. That document is a taxonomy of activities of licensed, practicing pharmacists across the continuum of healthcare settings—a hierarchical categorization of pharmacist activities, clustering ‘similar’ sets of behaviors into four major areas.

Specifically, graduates will demonstrate an entry-level of competence in the four major areas described below, which serve as the basis for both formative and summative assessments of the outcomes of the curriculum. In addition,students will have achieved basic proficiency in written and oral communication, clinical problem-solving, practice-related skills and abilities, resource utilization, and professional ethics. Students will demonstrate professional values and attitudes compatible with the contemporary practice of pharmacy.

1. Ensuring Appropriate Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes: Included in this goal are entry-level competencies required to ensure the appropriate therapeutic management of each patient, within the requirements and objectives of the patient’s total healthcare plan to the extent of the pharmacist’s scope of practice authority and other factors. These activities may be performed alone or in collaboration with other providers.
2. Dispensing Medications and Devices: Included in this goal are the entry-level competencies required to ensure that prescriptions or medication orders are appropriate for each patient, including determining that correct pharmaceutical products are selected, compounded, packaged and labeled for dispensing and administration, and that medications are delivered to the patient when needed.
3. Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: Entry level competencies required to educate, counsel and support the service populations in practicing healthy lifestyles, accessing immunizations, health screening, and obtaining information, referral, and counseling services.
4. Health Systems Management: Entry level competencies required to ensure that pharmacy operations and services in all settings embrace best practices, monitor and learn from their own and other systems’ experiences, and maximize the use of human, material and financial resources.