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Assessing student competency in compounding sterile preparations after instructional redesign
Scout Forbes-Hurd1, Jodi R Heins1, Christopher Robbins1
1South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, Brookings, SD, United States of America.
Introduction:
In 2023, United States Pharmacopeia updated its <797> standards for sterile compounding preparation. To ensure students received instruction on the most up-to-date content related to the standards, a sterile compounding course was redesigned to include additional assessment of student pharmacist competency to facilitate participation in a summer introductory pharmacy practice experience. A re-designed curriculum incorporating the new requirements led to a reduction in the number of hands-on practice opportunities in compounding sterile preparations for student pharmacists. This study evaluated if there was an association between reduced hands-on practice and student performance on a standardized sterile compounding assessment.
Methods:
A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis compared assessment scores across three cohorts (2022, 2023, and 2024). Performance was evaluated using a standardized sterile compounding preparation rubric assessing 38 skill-based competency items. The cohorts included a pre-redesign (2022) and a post-redesign (2024) curriculum; the 2023 cohort, which did not use the redesigned curriculum, served as an unintentional comparison because weather-related cancellations reduced the number of practice opportunities.
Results:
A total of 163 student assessments over three years were conducted (61 in 2022, 61 in 2023, and 41 in 2024). The pre-redesign cohort (Spring 2022) scored higher on the standardized assessment than did cohorts with fewer hands-on practice sessions (Spring 2023 and Spring 2024). Secondary analysis also found lowered assessment in four specific clinical procedure areas in the 2023 and 2024 cohorts.
Conclusion:
Curricular changes reducing the number of practice sessions for compounding sterile preparations were associated with lower performance on a skills-based assessment rubric, suggesting the need to maintain sufficient hands-on practice to help student pharmacists develop technical skills for sterile compounding.
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