Summary of the ACPE Consensus Conference on Advancing Quality in Pharmacy Education

Abstract

INTRODUCTION This is a summary of a consensus-seeking invitational conference convened by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), September 12-14, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia. The two objectives of the conference were to advise the ACPE Board of Directors on how to ensure that the standards, guidelines, and accreditation process for Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programs are aligned with (1) current and future competency requirements of pharmacists and (2) evidence-based practices in assessing student learning and the quality of educational programs. As ACPE begins the process of revising the standards for PharmD education in 2013, it will be guided by the findings and recommendations from the conference. This article describes the organization of the conference and summarizes presentations at the program. Companion articles discuss the recommendations of the conference (1) and ACPE's plans for using those recommendations in the standards-revision process. (2) Two other articles cover complementary activities that were used in planning the conference: the results of preconference surveys and reports of three task forces that outlined employer expectations of new pharmacy graduates. (3,4) INVITED PARTICIPANTS Of the 90 invited conference participants (not counting the 11 participants from the ACPE staff and conference support staff), about half were from pharmacy practice and half from pharmacy education. The ACPE strived for balance among the invitees; for example, between deans and faculty members, among representatives of different types and sizes of educational institutions, and among practitioners from various types of practice settings. Appendix 1 describes how participants were selected. Appendix 2 is a roster of the individuals who attended. CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION In advance of the meeting, the ACPE surveyed invited participants and other stakeholders on issues related to the conference objectives. (3) The survey results guided the ACPE in selecting the specific issues to focus on at the conference. In advance of the meeting, many invitees participated in an ACPE webinar that provided an orientation to the program. All participants were encouraged to review in advance the results of the preconference surveys and several articles and documents related to the objectives of the conference that were on an ACPE SharePoint[R] collaboration site that was Internet accessible. For each of the 2 objectives of the conference, plenary sessions consisting of invited presentations and discussions were followed by small-group sessions in which conferees drafted recommendations related to the conference objective. At the end of the program, conference participants rated all the recommendations in terms of impact and feasibility. Throughout the conference, the ACPE disseminated summaries of the proceedings via Twitter and Facebook[R] postings. The conference was funded primarily by ACPE, supplemented by grant support from 5 organizations (see Acknowledgements). Most invited participants had their institutions cover their expenses for traveling to the conference. The following sections summarize the conference's lectures and panel discussions, which highlighted issues and perspectives that were considered by conferees in formulating recommendations. [An audio recording of each lecture or panel discussion may be accessed at the following Web address: https://www.acpe-accredit.org/ deans/invitationalconference.asp; also at that site are PowerPoint[R] slides and supplemental information prepared by speakers.] THE STATUS QUO IS NOT AN OPTION Robert S. Beardsley, PhD, President of ACPE, opened the conference by explaining why ACPE convened the conference, pointing to the rate of change in health care, the evolving patient-care roles of pharmacists, and the growth of interprofessional practice models in health care. …