Entrustable professional activities improve curriculum

As preceptors, for many of us the knowledge we acquired and the skills we were tasked to perform in pharmacy school were assessed using an “all or nothing” approach; either we did or did not know something and/or we were or were not able to perform a skill toward the betterment of the patient. However, the landscape of pharmacy education has been evolving and how we subsequently assess learners (i.e., pharmacy students and residents) will also change.

As pharmacy education evolves, we’re always looking for ways to better facilitate the learning of students so they begin to actually feel like a pharmacist.

One of the ways in which many schools/colleges of pharmacy are seeking to improve curriculum (including experiential education) is through the use of entrustable professional activities (EPAs). Many of you who precept for other schools/colleges of pharmacy may have already heard about EPAs, which are essential tasks of a pharmacist that a PharmD graduate can be entrusted with.

EPAs, designed to address the gap between educational theory and clinical practice, are intended to be observable and measurable. For example, entrusting a student to identify drug-drug/disease interactions in a patient receiving rifampin.”

Medicine has been using EPAs in their curricula, including in the experiential realm, for many years! Learners are expected to grow in their competence in a manner that allows them to perform activities at different levels of supervision. The eventual goal is for the learner to progress to each milestone and reach a level where the task can be performed independently or with a “high” level of entrustment. EPAs are assessed through levels of entrustability (e.g., level 1, level 2, level 3, etc.).

Many schools/colleges of pharmacy have been incorporating EPAs within their curricula since 2016. At Binghamton University, SOPPS is currently investigating whether to adopt the EPAs into our curriculum in a more holistic fashion. The OEE may ask preceptors for their input, feedback and suggestions regarding EPAs over the next several years. Continuing education will be offered through our OEE, and also in collaboration with other schools/colleges of pharmacy in New York state.

Our OEE is excited to announce these upcoming programs and offer them to you as a valued partner and preceptor for our SOPPS. I look forward to chatting with all of you about the EPAs and their impact on the experiential curriculum here at Binghamton University’s SOPPS.

Nicholas Schwier
Assistant Dean of Experiential Education
Clinical Associate Professor
nschwier@binghamton.edu