Entrustable professional activities for pharmacy students: A primer for solid organ transplant preceptors

Alicia Lichvar; Mary Moss Chandran; Vincent Do; Trisann Rendulic; Amanda Szczepanik; Dana Pierce; Jeong M Park

doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxab320

Entrustable professional activities for pharmacy students: A primer for solid organ transplant preceptors

Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021 Aug 5:zxab320. doi: 10.1093/ajhp/zxab320. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Alicia Lichvar¹, Mary Moss Chandran², Vincent Do³, Trisann Rendulic⁴, Amanda Szczepanik⁵, Dana Pierce⁶, Jeong M Park⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, and Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
² Department of Pharmacy, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
⁵ Department of Pharmacy, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁶ Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁷ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and Department of Pharmacy Services, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

PMID: 34350946
DOI: 10.1093/ajhp/zxab320

Abstract

Disclaimer: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles , AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.

Purpose: The role of a solid organ transplant pharmacist is multifaceted and translates to diverse experiential and elective learning experiences that can be provided to pharmacy learners. Here we provide a guide to integrating pharmacy students into patient care and other pharmacist activities in solid organ transplantation.

Summary: Thoughtful incorporation of learners into clinical practice and clinical research creates a positive learning environment for pharmacy students that can foster the development of core skills necessary for students to become "practice-ready" and "team-ready" pharmacy graduates and can equip them with valuable skills to incorporate into the specialty practice areas and careers they pursue. To help develop these educational experiences, attention to the list of core entrustable professional activities (EPAs) established by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy can help create a rich environment of learning with carefully cultivated tasks. Furthermore, learners can serve as transplant pharmacist extenders to assist in overall patient care and multidisciplinary involvement on the transplant team. This article serves as a "how-to" guide for applying the EPA framework to integrating pharmacy students in patient care and other pharmacist activities in solid organ transplantation and other specialty practice areas.

Conclusion: As pharmacy preceptors design and operationalize their teaching to incorporate EPAs, they can benefit from recommendations tailored to specialty practice areas such as solid organ transplantation. Students may start and finish these experiences at different EPA levels, but continuance of training will allow them to achieve the final EPA level across the 6 EPA domains.

Keywords: education; immunosuppression; pharmacy; research; students; transplantation.