(63) A Tale of Two Surveys: Differences in Student Confidence Prior to Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Objective : To determine student confidence in pharmacist patient care process (PPCP) skills prior to advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs), and to compare results using two self-assessment tools.

Methods: Students in the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 completed two self-assessments. The validated PPCP Skills Self-Efficacy Survey (PPCP-SSE) is a 29-item questionnaire using a 5-point unipolar scale (1=not at all confident to 5=extremely confident). Students completed the PPCP-SSE at the end of the third-year pharmacotherapy skills lab sequence. The Student Performance Evaluation (SPE) is a 19-item evaluation based on the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education outcomes that is used by preceptors to assess students throughout the experiential curriculum. Items on the SPE are scored using Miller’s Framework of Clinical Assessment (1=does not know to 5=does); higher scores indicate a student’s ability to perform with a high level of autonomy. Students completed a self-assessment using the SPE prior to their first APPE.

Results: Out of 259 students, 198 completed both surveys (76.4%). The mean across the PPCP-SSE items was 4.17/5 and item means ranged from 3.87 to 4.57. The mean across the SPE items was 3.30/5 and item means ranged from 2.66 to 3.87.

Conclusions: Students entering APPEs have an appropriate level of confidence knowing they have a year of additional experiential training. Students consistently rated themselves higher on the PPCP-SSE as compared to their self-assessment on the SPE. This may be due to the SPE scale incorporating autonomy and thereby measuring practice-readiness whereas the PPCP-SSE is measuring APPE-readiness. The setting may also contribute (ie, skills lab versus experiential) and students may be more modest in their SPE self-assessment as their preceptors can review.