Dr Hayley Croft

© 2020 Introduction: Integrated assessment of multiple competencies at once, including entrustable professional activity (EPA) based assessment, is emerging as an effective approach to competency-based evaluation of health professionals. However, there is an absence of validated assessment frameworks in entry level pharmacy education. We aimed to develop an assessment framework and establish a validity argument, containing multiple sources of evidence, for use in the integrated assessment of pharmacy student's competency in all aspects of the supply of prescribed medicine(s). Methods: A two-phase prospective study was conducted. Phase 1 involved development and content validation of the Model of Entrustment in Dispensing Skills (MEDS) assessment framework using a literature review, a think-aloud study, and expert consultation. In phase 2, a pilot study was conducted with faculty and expert assessors to test the framework. Subsequent analysis involved psychometric evaluation of rating scales and usability testing. Results: Validity evidence was collected and organised across the two study phases. The MEDS framework had good evidence of content validity supported by the rigorous development and consultation process, as well as case sampling, with 88% of national practice-based competencies represented across the two simulations. Reliability coefficients were high and acceptable, supporting strong agreement across domains, students, and simulations as well as a strong correlation between the EPA and total score (spearman correlation rho 0.725, P < .001). Conclusions: This study describes a valid and rigorous approach for the implementation and interpretation of an integrated simulation-based assessment tool for determining pharmacy student's progress towards entrustment for independent medication supply practice.

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. Background and purpose: Effective, safe, and patient-centred dispensing is a core task of community pharmacists. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) offer a way of defining and assessing these daily practice activities. Although EPAs have become popular within competency-based medical education programs, their use is new to pharmacy education and assessment. Educational activity and setting: A simulation-based assessment framework containing a scale of entrustment was developed to evaluate the readiness of Year 4 undergraduate pharmacy students to safely manage the supply of prescribed medicine(s) in a community pharmacy. The assessment framework was piloted in a fourth year ¿Transition to Practice¿ course with 28 simulation-based assessments conducted. Findings: An entrustment framework was developed and implemented successfully with Year 4 undergraduate pharmacy students. The EPA for medicine dispensing integrates competency domains that include information gathering, providing patient-centred care, clinical reasoning, medicine dispensing, and professional communications. On a scale ranging from level 1 to level 5, the majority (73%) of entrustment ratings were level 2 or level 3; and of the students who achieved different ratings between clinical scenarios, 75% of students improved on their second simulation attempt. There was a strong correlation between the global EPA ratings with the total score achieved across the domains. Using simulation-based assessment, entrustment decision making can be incorporated in ¿entry to profession¿ undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy courses to assess students' readiness to transition between learning and professional practice.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. A key motivator for the use of serious games has been the notion that ¿gamification¿ provides users with an additional level of engagement. This study examines a traditional model of usability in terms of engagement and efficacy, presenting the results obtained from a formative evaluation of a serious game prototype that has been developed to assist in pharmacy education.