Introduction
Contemporary outcomes set by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy all contain practical component skill sets within their standards. To assess implementation of a national licensure practical component in the United States, we have included resources from the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada examination, which currently contains an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) portion.
Study Objective
To determine the benefits and barriers with implementation of a practical component in pharmacy licensure.
Study Design
A systematic literature review of existing attempts to implement a practice component to pharmacy licensure and analysis of practice components across other health care entities.
Methodology
A literature review was conducted using PubMed, Google Scholar, NIH, Taylor & Francis and the New York State Education Department to identify literature regarding use of practical components in pharmacy and other health care professions.
Results
The most promising benefits of implementation include superior pharmacist preparation, enhanced bedside manner, and better patient outcomes. The most detrimental barriers of implementation include cost, manpower, and practicality barriers such as redundancy and maintenance of examination integrity.
Conclusion
The value of adding a practical component is still unclear and will require further investigation and research. Our team has identified key competencies of accrediting body areas and outcomes where such a component would be more useful than traditional testing methods. However, the resources of implementing practical exams might not be feasible in the modern testing landscape.
