Assessment of students' critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities across a 6-year doctor of pharmacy program

To determine the feasibility of using a validated set of assessment rubrics to assess students' critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities across a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum.

Trained faculty assessors used validated rubrics to assess student work samples for critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities. Assessment scores were collected and analyzed to determine student achievement of these 2 ability outcomes across the curriculum. Feasibility of the process was evaluated in terms of time and resources used.

One hundred sixty-one samples were assessed for critical thinking, and 159 samples were assessed for problem-solving. Rubric scoring allowed assessors to evaluate four 5- to 7-page work samples per hour. The analysis indicated that overall critical-thinking scores improved over the curriculum. Although low yield for problem-solving samples precluded meaningful data analysis, it was informative for identifying potentially needed curricular improvements.

Use of assessment rubrics for program ability outcomes was deemed authentic and feasible. Problem-solving was identified as a curricular area that may need improving. This assessment method has great potential to inform continuous quality improvement of a PharmD program.