Transnational comparability of advanced pharmacy practice developmental frameworks: a country-level crossover mapping study

Previous work by the International Pharmaceutical Federation Education Initiative (FIPEd) demonstrates that even though some country-specific variations occur in pharmacy practice, there exists a set of practice-related competencies that are globally applicable. This study aimed to evaluate the transnational comparability of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Advanced Pharmacy Framework (RPS-APF, Great Britain) and the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Framework for Australia (APPF). The objective was to obtain preliminary data on the transnational applicability of the developmental competencies contained in the two frameworks.

A crossover mapping study involving 42 advanced-level pharmacists from four countries was conducted. Qualitative interview (n = 17) was also carried out to explore practitioners' perception of the frameworks.

The average postregistration experience of the practitioners in the crossover study was 19 years. Directly observed within-subject agreement per advanced practice competency ranged from 45% to 86%. This agreement was significant for 87% of the competencies evaluated (k ≥ 0.21; P ≤ 0.05). The lowest agreement was in the 'governance' competency (k = 0.13; P = 0.21). Wilcoxon sum rank test showed a statistically significant within-subject difference in the 'collaborative practice' cluster (P = 0.043). This was not observed in the other five advanced practice clusters. From the qualitative interviews, practitioners generally perceived the two compared advanced-level frameworks as similar in content and indicated they found the described competencies to be useful for clarifying expectations of practice and identifying skills development needs.

These findings provide preliminary evidence of the comparability and transnational applicability of the advanced pharmacy practice competencies contained in the two national competency development frameworks evaluated.