Qualitative Analysis of Common Definitions for Core Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Abstract

To determine how colleges and schools of pharmacy interpreted the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's (ACPE's) Standards 2007 definitions for core advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs), and how they differentiated community and institutional practice activities for introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) and APPEs. A cross-sectional, qualitative, thematic analysis was done of survey data obtained from experiential education directors in US colleges and schools of pharmacy. Open-ended responses to invited descriptions of the 4 core APPEs were analyzed using grounded theory to determine common themes. Type of college or school of pharmacy (private vs public) and size of program were compared. Seventy-one schools (72%) with active APPE programs at the time of the survey responded. Lack of strong frequent themes describing specific activities for the acute care/general medicine core APPE indicated that most respondents agreed on the setting (hospital or inpatient) but the student experience remained highly variable. Themes were relatively consistent between public and private institutions, but there were differences across programs of varying size. Inconsistencies existed in how colleges and schools of pharmacy defined the core APPEs as required by ACPE. More specific descriptions of core APPEs would help to standardize the core practice experiences across institutions and provide an opportunity for quality benchmarking.