Competency. The APPE curriculum, in aggregate, includes but is not limited to: (1) direct patient care, (2) interprofessional interaction and practice, (3) medication dispensing, distribution, administration, and systems management, and (4) professional development.
A pharmacist practicing in community and ambulatory care practice settings needs to possess competencies in the areas including pharmacist-delivered patient care (i.e. medication therapy management), public health, communication, dispensing systems management, business management, pharmacy law, and leadership. Listed below are example performance competencies and the affiliated course activities. Please note not all competencies listed below will be evaluated in this course.
Pharmacist-Delivered Patient Care.
- Demonstrate and routinely apply strong clinical skills and provide direct patient care services
- Provide Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services
- Define and appropriately document comprehensive MTM services
- Conduct a patient interview and provide education
- Conduct a comprehensive medication review
- Identify and resolve medication therapy problems, manage drug interactions, and resolve gaps in care
- Recommend therapeutic alternatives and generic substitutions
- Document services and follow up with other health professionals
- Use multiple MTM platforms as required by third-party payers
- Support and assist patient behavior change
- Proactively identify and resolve patient-specific barriers to medications adherence
- Complete physical assessments and make appropriate recommendations or referrals
- Describe and apply clinical practice guidelines to patient care
- Facilitate patient self-administration of medications and disease monitoring
- Demonstrate knowledge of appropriate administration technique for dosage forms commonly dispensed in community pharmacy
- Proactively assess and resolve issues related to medication safety
- Describe common doses of drugs requiring monitoring and collaborative drug therapy management
- Proactively perform counseling and medication education which complies with OBRA-90
Course Activities: medication therapy management activities, case presentation, patient profile reviews, collaborative practice agreement
Public Health. Clinical Application of the Public Health Policy:
- Discuss the pharmacist’s role in education and intervention in public health initiatives applicable to pharmacy practice
- Collect, interpret, and make recommendations based on the results of health and wellness screenings and diagnostic tests
- Proactively assist with patient self-care, including helping patients make appropriate over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements
- Proactively promote healthy lifestyle and nutrition and describe how it impacts drug therapy and overall health
- Identify and explain the major roles of the pharmacist in population-based provision of care (as distinguished from direct patient care)
Course Activities- attend seminar discussion, medication therapy management activities
Communication Skills.
Health Literacy:
- Determine patient level of health literacy by observation or interview, appropriately adjust counseling delivery, and to communicate at all levels of health literacy
- Solve adherence challenges created by low health literacy
Patient communications:
- Support patient behavior changes and self-efficacy though skills such as motivational interviewing
- Demonstrate a respect for patient confidentiality and privacy rights
- Demonstrate patient compassion and empathy
Health professional communications:
- Effectively function as part of a team engaged in interprofessional, team-based care
- Document appropriate therapeutic recommendations related to medication therapy in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) or similar platforms
Drug information skills:
- When given a drug information question, access and utilize appropriate drug information resources and provide an accurate and credible solution in both written and oral forms.
- Develop a variety of drug-related reports, monographs, review, and policies using drug literature evaluation skills.
- Evaluate appropriateness of clinical trials and other study designs, including validation of methodology and assessment of data credibility
- Access appropriate drug information resources required for patient education
Course Activities – medication therapy management activities, journal article review
Leadership Abilities.
- Display confidence in the patient care skills learned in pharmacy school
- Demonstrate professional behavior (attitude, dress, appearance, etc.) in practice settings
- Embrace and advocate changes that improve patient care
Course Activities – medication therapy management activities, case presentation, journal article review
* Taken from ACPE Standards 2016