Using the ACCP Toolkit to Evolve the Pharm.D. Curriculum

AbstractObjective Apply the 2019 American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Toolkit in the curricular assessment process to identify areas of curricular overload and opportunities for reallocation of credits intended to improve pharmacotherapy topic alignment in the curriculum with the toolkit. Methods At a single program, faculty instructors rated the pharmacotherapy topics they teach using the 3-tier system defined in the toolkit as part of the curricular assessment process. Instructor ratings were compared to the suggested toolkit tier to identify areas of incongruity. A revised curriculum was designed and approved by the faculty. Curricular changes aimed to improve topic alignment were observed and descriptively reported. Results Curricular topic alignment to the recommended toolkit tier was observed for 55% of topics. The remaining 45% of toolkit topics were taught at a higher tier (29% one tier higher, and 3% two tiers higher) more often than to a lower tier (11% one tier lower and 2% two tiers lower) compared to the toolkit recommendations. The program taught 34% of tier 3 topics that were not recommended for inclusion in required curricula, focused on immunology, toxicology, critical care, and psychiatry. Based on this curricular assessment process, tier 3 topics were removed, course credits and topic hours were reduced, time was repurposed to ensure that tier 1 topics were taught sufficiently, and time to apply the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process within pharmacotherapy modules was increased. Conclusion Using the ACCP Toolkit in the curricular assessment process was effective in identifying areas of curricular overload and informing areas for improvement in a subsequent curricular revision leading to adjustment of credits and time spent on pharmacotherapy topics within courses.