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BPEP Summit - Post-Summit Survey Recommendations

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Post-Summit Survey Recommendations

The purpose of this survey was to identify the most impactful recommendations from the Summit. The recommendations, derived from the breakout-group takeaways, were divided into two or more sections under each Summit topic:

  • Competency-based Pharmacy Education
  • Professional Identity Formation
  • Optimizing the Continuum of Learning: PharmD through Post-graduate Education
  • Pharmacists’ Continuing Professional Development and Life-long Learning. 

Within each section, attendees were asked to select one to three recommendations that they believed would have the most significant impact on enhancing pharmacy’s capacity to improve health outcomes for all people over the next five years. Below you will find the recommendations in each sub-section listed in rank order with the number of votes cast for each section. 

Sections:
  1. Competency-Based Education (CBE)
  2. Professional Identity Formation (PIF)
  3. Optimizing the Continuum of Learning
  4. Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

  1. Competency-Based Education (CBE)

    1. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
      1. Engage multiple stakeholders (including patients, students, educational institutions, other practitioners and practitioner organizations, regulators, accrediting bodies, and employers) in a process of exploring the need for and feasibility of CBE in pharmacy. (65 votes)
      2. Clarify the problems or issues that competency-based education (CBE) would address. (43 votes)
      3. Develop a comprehensive teaching and learning model for CBE that takes into account the full continuum of pharmacy education, including postgraduate education. (39 votes)
      4. Develop CBE demonstration models that address the implications of de-emphasizing learning-time. (32 votes)
      5. Develop clear definitions of terminology used in CBE. (30 votes)
      6. Determine what the public expects from the pharmacy workforce and determine the best way to prepare pharmacy graduates to meet those expectations. (22 votes)
      7. Establish and support research priorities related to advancing competency-based education. (20 votes)
      8. Foster recognition that CBE encourages a mindset geared toward adaptability, resilience, and lifelong learning. (12 votes)
      9. Foster recognition that CBE is well suited for developing skills in critical thinking and problem solving. (8 votes)
      10. Customize messages for various stakeholders about the potential advantages of CBE in pharmacy. (4 votes)
      11. Identify the stakeholder support (e.g., by state boards of pharmacy) that would be required for successful transition to CBE in pharmacy. (0 votes)
      12. Foster recognition that CBE might lend itself to application-based learning. (0 votes)
    2. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS
      1. Assess how CBE will affect the educational infrastructure (funding, facilities, faculty, etc.) and related costs. (54 votes)
      2. Develop strategies for addressing the content-delivery and assessment challenges associated with CBE. (46 votes)
      3. Develop a hybrid model for PharmD education that includes both CBE and traditional learning methods. (36 votes)
      4. Ensure that faculty members understand the educational philosophy that underpins CBE. (32 votes)
      5. Create continuing professional development programs on CBE issues for faculty members to prepare them to implement the concept. (22 votes)
      6. Communicate examples of how CBE has been implemented in pharmacy education. (20 votes)
      7. Ensure that faculty members understand pharmacists’ current work and how that is likely to change in the future. (16 votes)
      8. Develop improved methods of helping students take responsibility for their learning. (15 votes)
      9. Ensure adequate flexibility among PharmD programs in their implementation of CBE. (13 votes)
      10. Ensure that students understand the expectations and implications of CBE. (13 votes)
      11. Help students understand how the rationale and structure of CBE differs from their previous academic experiences. (13 votes)
      12. Assess how precollege education will affect acceptance into PharmD programs based on CBE. (10 votes)
      13. Help students understand that under CBE failure along the path toward competency is part of the learning process. (9 votes)
      14. Acclimate student pharmacists to CBE as early as feasible in their education. (6 votes)
      15. Foster recognition that CBE could allow students to demonstrate competencies that support a nontraditional career path. (4 votes)
      16. Prepare students to understand that flexibility of CBE might not be matched by a similar degree of flexibility in practice. (0 votes)
    3. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO PRACTITIONERS AND EMPLOYERS
      1. Develop a shared understanding of the meaning of “practice-ready” competencies. (84 votes)
      2. Help employers and residency directors understand how to evaluate CBE-educated applicants. (41 votes)
      3. Communicate how CBE will enable pharmacy practice to adapt more readily to changing demands and opportunities. (40 votes)
      4. Foster recognition that an advantage of CBE is its adaptability to an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists. (25 votes)
      5. Foster recognition that CBE helps ensure baseline competency among pharmacists entering practice. (16 votes)
      6. Pursue CBE in the context of a preferred vision for the future of pharmacy practice. (15 votes)
      7. Foster recognition that CBE promotes career-long competency. (14 votes)
      8. Foster recognition that CBE will foster lifelong learning and more diverse career pathways. (14 votes)
      9. Foster recognition that the flexibility of CBE could lead to greater diversity in the pharmacy workforce. (13 votes)
      10. Foster recognition that CBE will allow the profession to move away from the notion that new graduates must know everything as entry-level generalists. (11 votes)

  2. Professional Identity Formation (PIF)

    1. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
      1. Encourage stakeholders to develop consistent messaging (both inside and outside the profession) on the role and value of pharmacists. (44 votes)
      2. Conceptualize Professional Identity Formation (PIF) as a continuous process that begins early in PharmD education and extends throughout a pharmacist’s career. (43 votes)
      3. Encourage stakeholders to develop and communicate a primary core identity for pharmacists (e.g., responsibility for medication-use optimization) that can be interpreted by individual pharmacists to fit their specific scope of practice. (40 votes)
      4. Include among the stakeholders that share responsibility for enhancing pharmacists’ PIF: PharmD programs, postgraduate education programs, pharmacy associations, pharmacist employers, and state boards of pharmacy. (36 votes)
      5. Educate stakeholders on the concept of PIF and why it is important to the future of the pharmacy profession. (22 votes)
      6. Encourage pharmacists to be proud of their distinction as medication-use experts. (18 votes)
      7. Encourage stakeholders to collaborate in building a stronger sense of professional cohesiveness among all pharmacists. (18 votes)
      8. Encourage stakeholders to avoid devaluing generalist practitioners or those in particular sectors of practice. (17 votes)
      9. Foster recognition that diversity in professional identity among pharmacists is a strength of the profession. (15 votes)
      10. Foster recognition that PIF is central to developing pharmacists’ confidence in their roles and satisfaction with their careers. (15 votes)
      11. Help pharmacists articulate their value clearly and confidently. (14 votes)
      12. Encourage stakeholders to foster collaboration between pharmacy education and practice in securing payment for patient-care services provided by pharmacists. (11 votes)
      13. Encourage the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners to support enhancement of PIF in pharmacy. (10 votes)
    2. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EDUCATORS AND PRACTITIONERS
      1. Provide faculty and practitioners tools to help them provide positive role modeling and mentoring related to PIF. (40 votes)
      2. Emphasize to student pharmacists that their competencies and professional identity will continue to evolve during their careers. (33 votes)
      3. Expose student pharmacists to a wide range of career options early in their education. (30 votes)
      4. In experiential education, shift requirements away from sectors of practice toward the development of specific competencies and professional identity. (27 votes)
      5. Encourage pharmacists, when introducing themselves, to say, “I am a pharmacist who practices in [a community pharmacy] [a hospital] [etc.]” rather than, “I am a [community] [hospital] [etc.] pharmacist.” (25 votes)
      6. Devote more attention to developing change-agent and advocacy skills in student pharmacists. (21 votes)
      7. Emphasize to student pharmacists the need for agility in considering new opportunities that may arise in practice. (20 votes)
      8. Address the reality that in some practice settings, workforce redesign, cultural redesign, appropriate staffing levels, etc., could improve PIF and practitioner well-being. (18 votes)
      9. Prepare PharmD students for the reality that some of the vital work of pharmacists is mundane while great satisfaction is derived from instances when pharmacists improve medication use. (17 votes)
      10. Foster recognition that workplace characteristics (e.g., organizational culture, degree of professional autonomy) affect PIF and pharmacist well-being. (15 votes)
      11. Give priority to preparing PharmD students to become life-long learners. (15 votes)
      12. Foster recognition that as pharmacists continue to expand their status as healthcare providers, their professional identity will be enhanced. (13 votes)
      13. Include pharmacy technicians in PIF initiatives. (12 votes)
      14. Foster recognition that membership in professional organizations is an important facet of PIF. (9 votes)

  3. Optimizing the Continuum of Learning

    1. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
      1. Improve communication, coordination, and alignment across PharmD education, postgraduate education, and continuing professional development with respect to targeted competencies. (45 votes)
      2. Promote greater understanding, throughout pharmacy, of competency-based education, entrustable professional activities, and continuing professional development. (38 votes)
      3. Ensure that accreditation standards are sufficiently flexible to allow curriculum innovation. (37 votes)
      4. Critically examine accreditation requirements and teaching methods and change those that are contrary to the needs of learners. (29 votes)
      5. Foster use of inclusive language and development of an inclusive culture in pharmacy (emphasizing the core purpose of pharmacists rather than sector of practice). (22 votes)
      6. Ensure that competency standards are informed by stakeholder input and patient-care needs. (21 votes)
      7. Develop additional alternatives to residencies and fellowships for postgraduate education. (20 votes)
      8. Give more emphasis to developing competencies in (a) business, (b) management, (c) financial skills, and (d) advocacy on behalf of the value of pharmacist services. (17 votes)
      9. Emphasize to students and practitioners the vital importance of developing and maintaining a personal career-development plan. (12 votes)
      10. Address the reality that a barrier in fostering life-long learning is the wide range of perspectives among students and practitioners on matters such as professional adaptability and openness to change. (11 votes)
      11. Develop and implement more opportunities for micro-credentialing such as through certificate programs. (11 votes)
      12. Promote adoption of competency-based education and milestone assessments in postgraduate residency education. (11 votes)
      13. Identify career pathways that do not require residencies. (8 votes)
      14. Rigorously differentiate between essential and non-essential knowledge in pharmacy specialties, aiming to define specialties more clearly and distinctly. (6 votes)
      15. Emphasize to students and practitioners the value of mentorship. (5 votes)
      16. Foster clear thinking about the reason for pursuing added credentials, focusing on the competencies needed for a particular career path rather than general enhancement of a résumé. (3 votes)
    2. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EDUCATORS
      1. Give more attention to skill-development in critical thinking, problem solving, and continuous learning. (40 votes)
      2. Use more practicums, labs, and simulations (as opposed to traditional classroom teaching) for enhancing skill-development in areas such as decision-making, critical thinking, and problem solving. (35 votes)
      3. Expose student pharmacists, early in their education, to a wide variety of successful practitioners who have pursued different career paths, thereby reinforcing the value of life-long learning and adaptability. (34 votes)
      4. Critically examine core pharmacy knowledge to free up time for students to customize their learning. (29 votes)
      5. Integrate classroom learning and application-based learning early in the curriculum. (26 votes)
      6. Start student pharmacists on a continuing professional development plan early in their education. (23 votes)
      7. Use more nontraditional methods of assessment (e.g., oral reports by learners) designed to enhance critical thinking and develop skills that support life-long learning. (19 votes)
      8. Encourage faculty members, preceptors, and practitioners to model life-long learning to better prepare student pharmacists for a rapidly changing healthcare environment. (17 votes)
      9. Establish greater accountability in experiential education with respect to developing target competencies. (17 votes)
      10. Integrate community pharmacists more fully in pharmacy education. (17 votes)
      11. Greatly improve the effectiveness of preceptors in experiential education. (12 votes)
      12. Allow more time for students to reflect and develop a growth mindset (i.e., a commitment to lifelong learning). (9 votes)
      13. Teach students in more depth about healthcare payment models. (8 votes)
      14. Use non-punitive assessments to foster a commitment to life-long learning among students. (7 votes)
      15. Encourage employment of student pharmacists in pharmacies to make experiential education more effective. (1 vote)
    3. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICE
      1. Harmonize across the health professions accreditation standards for interprofessional education. (48 votes)
      2. Assertively advocate resolution of payment issues that hamper interprofessional practice. (34 votes)
      3. Focus interprofessional education on building teamwork skills, including communication skills, rather than on the particular needs of a subset of learners. (33 votes)
      4. Expose students early to interprofessional education to help them transition from being subordinate thinkers to critical thinkers. (31 votes)
      5. Communicate clearly about the core competencies in each healthcare discipline. (25 votes)
      6. Identify additional ways for students in other health professions to improve their understanding of the role of pharmacists (e.g., by observing pharmacy practice firsthand). (25 votes)
      7. Foster recognition that barriers to interprofessional collaboration include the structure of individual educational programs and professional turf-protection. (24 votes)
      8. Take a “working together in service” approach, in community-based activities, in interprofessional education. (24 votes)
      9. Showcase real-life examples of successful interprofessional healthcare practice. (19 votes)
      10. Foster research and discussion of issues in patient care that could be addressed through interprofessional practice. (18 votes)
      11. Foster recognition that the support of upper-echelon academic authorities is often required to achieve effective interprofessional education. (10 votes)

  4. Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

    1. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
      1. Communicate the value of CPD from the perspective of individual stakeholders (e.g., patients, educators, regulators, employers, practitioners). (43 votes)
      2. Foster a deeper common understanding across the profession about the objectives, value, and methods of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). (39 votes)
      3. Develop a profession-wide, multi-year plan for transitioning from “continuing education” (CE) to CPD. (39 votes)
      4. Identify best practices for a streamlined practical process for implementing CPD by individual practitioners and in the profession as a whole. (39 votes)
      5. Give priority to demonstrating the value of CPD from the employer’s perspective. (31 votes)
      6. Encourage pharmacy associations to help develop a culture in the profession that embraces CPD. (29 votes)
      7. Communicate the connection between CPD and advancing the profession. (21 votes)
      8. Communicate the connection between professional identity formation and CPD. (15 votes)
      9. Create a primary source of information about the CPD process and CPD educational offerings. (11 votes)
      10. Communicate the connection between CPD and protecting the public. (8 votes)
      11. Encourage thought leaders to speak and write more about the need for CPD. (7 votes)
    2. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EDUCATORS AND REGULATORS
      1. Encourage student pharmacists to create and maintain a CPD portfolio that carries forward into their practitioner careers. (34 votes)
      2. Begin emphasizing the value of CPD early in PharmD education. (29 votes)
      3. Encourage schools of pharmacy, state associations, and others to create more CPD learning opportunities. (27 votes)
      4. Structure CPD as complementary to CE—CE for learning, CPD for application and evaluation. (26 votes)
      5. Change the learning mode in CPD from traditional to nontraditional approaches (e.g., mentoring, quality-improvement projects, article review, precepting, etc.). (24 votes)
      6. Help regulatory bodies find ways to operationalize CPD requirements. (24 votes)
      7. Use co-curriculum programs in PharmD education to introduce and foster understanding of CPD. (24 votes)
      8. Avoid excessive regulation of CPD. (23 votes)
      9. Explore how to advance CPD through credentialing, privileging, and relicensure processes. (23 votes)
      10. Transition from traditional CE by creating bundles of learning that would meet the needs for CPD. (19 votes)
      11. Encourage program directors and preceptors in experiential education and residencies to personally adopt CPD. (18 votes)
      12. Make learning opportunities more interactive and engaging to encourage the adoption of CPD. (14 votes)
      13. Create regulatory mandates for CPD. (3 votes)
    3. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO PRACTITIONERS AND EMPLOYERS
      1. Encourage employers to include CPD plan development and maintenance in annual employee performance reviews. (55 votes)
      2. Encourage employers to give employees time (and other support) to participate in CPD. (39 votes)
      3. Teach practitioners how to use CPD to meet both professional and personal goals. (38 votes)
      4. Create tangible incentives for the adoption of CPD by practitioners and support of CPD by employers. (38 votes)
      5. Encourage employers to link practitioner career advancement to participation in CPD. (24 votes)
      6. Encourage practitioners to view their work as a “professional career” rather than a “job.” (20 votes)
      7. Help practitioners understand the advantage(s) of CPD over CE related to the current demands for flexibility and adaptability in practice advancement. (19 votes)
      8. Foster use of a standard platform (such as APhA Advance) for practitioner career planning and documenting CPD learning. (14 votes)
      9. Help practitioners understand the need for CPD in the context of sustaining the profession. (13 votes)
      10. Foster recognition that if practitioners feel empowered to pursue constructive changes in their practices they will be more inclined to use CPD to equip themselves for making those changes. (10 votes)
      11. Develop post-graduation mentorship and coaching in CPD. (9 votes)
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