Use of Standardized Exams to Improve APPE Assessment

As health science educators know very well, providing a consistent level of education and experience across diverse clinical sites is very difficult, if not impossible.

A number of strategies and tactics have been used to try to ensure that students across different community sites of care get a similar, and equally valuable educational experience. However, there are still many subjective factors involved in assessing the student experience.

One approach used by Sullivan University College of Pharmacy was to require that specific disease state topics be reviewed during each of the APPE (experiential) blocks. Students were required to study, discuss and/or review patients with these disease states during their assigned APPE experiences. To ensure that the students were reviewing the material as well as preparing for their NAPLEX exam, a mandatory end of block assessment was prepared using Exam Master’s pharmacy question bank and Academic Manager testing system. While the examination did not count for grade, students were expected to achieve a 75% rate or better, and passage of all the assessments was a requirement for graduation.

More details and a good discussion of the goals of the initiative are available in the Spring 2014 AACP Newsletter by clicking here.

Related Topics: Assessment // Experiential // Pharmacy