A capstone clinical case examination as an assessment of student readiness for ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experiences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46542/pe.2025.251.247254Keywords:
Ambulatory care, APPE readiness, Assessment, Experiential educationAbstract
Background: A clinical case exam (CCE) is given to third-year pharmacy students prior to embarking on fourth-year Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs). This study assessed the efficacy of the CCE as a measure of students’ readiness for ambulatory care APPEs.
Methods: This retrospective study examined the correlation between students' CCE scores and their ambulatory care APPE evaluation scores across four cohorts (Classes of 2018-2021). Students take a capstone course in their final didactic semester that includes a CCE focused on common APPE encounters, followed by an ambulatory care APPE during one of seven rotation blocks. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the relationship between CCE scores and APPE performance, along with subgroup analyses for each cohort and rotation block.
Results: A total of 295 students were included. Student CCE scores were positively correlated with ambulatory care APPE scores (r = 0.5180, p < 0.001). Positive correlations were observed for each cohort and for students with ambulatory care APPEs in the first five rotation blocks, while nonsignificant correlations were found for the last two rotation blocks.
Conclusion: There was a positive correlation between CCE scores and ambulatory care APPE performance, but it was not significant for students near the end of their APPE year. CCEs can effectively measure readiness for ambulatory care APPEs.
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