Implementing Standards 2007 to Improve Students’ Preparation for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

To examine the impact of implementation of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's (ACPE's) Standards 2007 on pharmacy students' preparation for their first advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE).The doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum was altered to include introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPE), second-year therapeutics, classroom integration of practice experiences, more biomedical sciences, an electronic portfolio system, life-long learning exercises, and additional content based on Appendix B of Standards 2007. Curricular outcomes and the assessment plan also were revised based on Standards 2007.To evaluate the impact of these changes to the curriculum, faculty members rated 9 behaviors of students observed during the third week of their first APPE and compared their scores with those of students who were evaluated in 2004 before the curriculum had been revised. Students completing the revised curriculum performed all 9 behaviors more often and had a better average score than students evaluated in 2004.Curricular revisions implemented to address ACPE Standards 2007 were associated with positive clinical behaviors in students beginning their experiential education.