PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Pittenger, Amy L.
AU  - Gleason, Brenda L.
AU  - Haines, Stuart T.
AU  - Neely, Stephen
AU  - Medina, Melissa S.
TI  - Pharmacy Student Perceptions of the Entrustable Professional Activities
AID  - 10.5688/ajpe7274
DP  - 2019 Mar 22
TA  - American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
PG  - ajpe7274
4099  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/early/2019/12/10/ajpe7274.short
4100  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/early/2019/12/10/ajpe7274.full
AB  - Objective: To determine perceptions and self-reported preparedness of pharmacy students to perform the AACP 15 core entrustable professional activity (EPA) statements for new pharmacy graduates.Methods: Random sample of Doctor of Pharmacy students from all four professional years at four institutions were asked to indicate if EPA statements are relevant to the practice of pharmacy and pharmacists are expected to perform the activity in multiple practice settings. Participants rated their self-perceived level of entrustability for each EPA and indicated which three EPA statements they felt most and least prepared to perform.Results: Four hundred twenty-three usable responses were received. All EPA statements were rated as relevant and pharmacists are expected to perform in multiple practice settings with a high percentage of agreement (>85% and >67%, respectively). The perceived need for supervision decreased from P1 to P4 years. These data suggest that confidence grew to perform some activities as experience and knowledge were gained (P4 students feeling more prepared than P1 students), but in some cases the self-perceived need for supervision regressed as students better understood the complexity of the activity (P4 students feeling less prepared than P1 students). The EPA statements students felt most and least prepared to perform varied by year in the program.Conclusions:The core EPA statements are consistently rated by pharmacy students to be relevant to pharmacy practice and an expectation in multiple settings. Students generally felt they required less supervision when performing these activities as they progressed through the curriculum.