A Scoping Review of the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment Literature

Objective. To identify themes, gaps, and sources of evidence from the literature to inform practice and additional areas for research in pharmacy education with respect to the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA). Findings. Nineteen articles have been published describing the administration and use of PCOA. Since PCOA was made a curricular requirement by the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education in 2016, the focus of PCOA related literature has shifted from administration practices (4 vs 2, respectively) to determining models that may predict student performance on the assessment (2 vs 5, respectively) or how the examination might be used to predict future performance (1 vs 7, respectively), especially on the North American Pharmacist Licensing Examination. While there has been growing literature recently focused on the PCOA’s utility for measuring performance, few variables have been consistently used. Summary. This review found no studies whose objectives aligned with the initial intended use of the PCOA defined by National Association of Boards of Pharmacy including tracking individual student performance throughout the curriculum, benchmarking programs against other programs, and evaluating if a program is meeting their desired outcomes. Additionally, there is no consensus across the Academy as to the proper use of the PCOA and a paucity of literature of how the PCOA informs schools/colleges of the effectiveness of their curriculum. There is a need for the Academy to establish a uniform application for PCOA, assess resources required of programs for this required assessment, and its utility to measure curricular effectiveness and/or student performance.