Entrustable Professional Activities and Competencies for Experiential Learning: A Delphi Study

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Experiential Learning Assessment
• Competency-Based Education

Background:

• Experiential learning (EL) in pharmacy requires effective competency-based assessment.
• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are a validated tool for assessment in medical education and other health professions.
• Global adoption of EPAs necessitates consensus on their application in pharmacy EL.

Purpose of the Study:

• To achieve consensus on appropriate entrustment levels for EPAs.
• To establish consensus on specific EPAs and their associated competencies for pharmacy student assessment.
• To develop a standardized framework for evaluating pharmacy students during EL.

Main Methods:

• A Delphi questionnaire was used to gather expert opinions.
• Participants included EL facilitators, final-year student pharmacists, and academic/NES pharmacists.
• Consensus was defined as 75% agreement, with primary and secondary analyses of responses and thematic analysis of comments.

Main Results:

• Consensus was achieved on all EPA competencies and entrustment levels in the first round.
• Subgroup analysis revealed minor discrepancies in consensus for specific entrustment levels and EPA competencies.
• Identified themes included student knowledge, placement duration, guidance, supervision, and EPA overlap.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully reached consensus on entrustment levels and EPA competencies for pharmacy student EL.
• The findings support the implementation of a standardized competency-based assessment framework for pharmacy education.
• This framework can enhance the evaluation of student pharmacists' readiness for practice.