Perspectives of Faculty on the Entry-Level Pharm. D. Degree

Abstract

Specific Aims: In 2000 the Accreditation for Pharmacy Education began accrediting only pharmacy education programs that awarded an entry-level PharmD degree. The purpose of this study is to assess pharmacy faculty opinions concerning the transition to the all-PharmD degree as compared to post-baccalaureate PharmD degree. Methods: This study was a national survey of clinical pharmacy faculty attitudes and opinions toward training of clinical pharmacists. An email invitation was sent to participate in the survey and data was collected over a two month period. Questions included opinions on pharmacist’s ability to counsel patients, recommend drug therapy, make dosage adjustments, and solve problems based on their PharmD training among other questions. Demographic data was also collected. Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests were used to determine if significant differences were present between clinical faculty with either entry-level versus post-baccalaureate PharmD degrees with respect to opinions related to skills of entry-level PharmD pharmacists. Main Results: A total of 2798 individuals were sent email invitations to participate in the survey; 493 subjects started the survey of which 420 provided complete responses. All questions were scored on a five point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) with a neutral option (3). Entry-level PharmD’s agreed that they are equally skilled to post-baccalaureate PharmD’s in conducting a physical exam (3.3 versus 2.9), recommending drug therapy (3.5 versus 2.9), identify problems in drug therapy (3.5 versus 3.0), and counseling patients (3.8 versus 3.5) than post-baccalaureate PharmD’s (P≤0.0022). Conclusion: Post-baccalaureate PharmD faculty are less likely to believe that entry-level pharmacists are similar to themselves with respect clinical services.