Reluctance to Fail and the Challenges Preceptors Face in Experiential Assessment

Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) are viewed as the culmination of didactic and practical instruction in pharmacy education. The experiential component of pharmacy curricula is crucial to ensure that student pharmacists develop into practice-ready practitioners. The purpose of this study was to investigate preceptor opinions of failing APPE students and the underlying reasons why preceptors may or may not be hesitant to fail an APPE student.

All APPE preceptors at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy were eligible for study participation and were recruited via email. Participants were asked to complete a 23-item Qualtrics survey evaluating perceptions of giving a failing score to APPE students. Descriptive statistics were performed on the data that was collected.

A total of 404 individuals participated in the survey; however, not every respondent answered all 23 questions. Preceptors represented University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy (114), University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy (286), and undeclared individuals (4). Of those who completed the survey, 32 (7.9%) reported that they had failed a student, 318 (78.7%) reported that they had never failed a student, and 54 (13.4%) reported that they had not failed a student, though they felt as if they should have.

These findings confirm anecdotal suggestions that most preceptors have not failed a student on rotation, despite some feeling as though they should have. Future research should seek to identify ways in which preceptors can be empowered to justly fail students.