(156) Coping with COEPA: The process to adopt, adapt, and integrate them into Maryland-brand competency-based outcomes

Objective : Align the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s existing competency-based outcomes (CBOs) with the newly released AACP Curricular Outcomes and Entrustable Professional Activities (COEPA).

Methods: According to the guidance issued by the AACP Academic Affairs Committee and the ACPE Standards 2025, institutions should adopt COEPA and should not change the domain names, subdomain names, one-word descriptor, or subdomain descriptions. Institutions may not reduce educational outcomes but may incorporate additional outcomes, and subdomain descriptions may increase in taxonomy level to highlight areas of institution specialization. In July 2022, new Maryland CBOs and goal statements were ratified in preparation for the PharmD curriculum re-imagination. Upon release of the draft ACPE Standards 2025 that included COEPA, a committee of faculty and staff crosswalked COEPA and Maryland CBOs and identified overlaps and gaps between goal statements and subdomain descriptions. The committee adopted the COEPA language and adapted and integrated subdomains to include Maryland-brand outcomes.

Results: COEPA language was adopted in all but two Maryland goal statements where the taxonomy level was higher (provider and leader), and CBOs within the skill domain were revised. A goal statement addressing the skill of structural and cultural humility was missing from the existing CBOs and was added along with additional corresponding CBOs. Lastly, it was determined that Maryland’s goal statement of antiracism and anti-oppression would be added as an additional subdomain under the attitudes domain and its one-word descriptor aligning with “Ally”.

Conclusions: Schools should integrate existing educational outcomes to subdomain descriptions and adopt subdomains that are unaddressed through collaborative discussion and consensus. This may be similar to the adoption of PPCP terminology, when schools modified unique language related to the therapeutic decision-making process.