(33) Comparison of Pre-NAPLEX Performance and Pharmacist Licensure at a Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Objective : The Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) was utilized to provide student performance information in Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curricula across the United States. This assessment was used by some schools/colleges to potentially predict North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) success post-graduation. However, due to phase out of the PCOA, schools/colleges may be evaluating other options to assess student curricular performance. The objective of this study is to analyze relationships between Pre-NAPLEX performance and pharmacist licensure at a school of pharmacy.

Methods: This is a retrospective study analyzing performance of PharmD students on the Pre-NAPLEX assessment towards both the end of the third year (P3) and end of the fourth year (P4) of the PharmD curriculum, compared to presence of pharmacist licensure by February 29, 2024, and time from graduation to pharmacist licensure. Presence and date of licensure were validated by license search on public state board of pharmacy websites. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were calculated for each set of compared results utilizing Microsoft Excel.

Results: Forty-six Class of 2023 PharmD students were included in the analysis. Students took the Pre-NAPLEX in April 2022 (towards the end of P3 year) and again in May 2023 (towards the end of P4 year). Comparing P3 Pre-NAPLEX performance and P4 Pre-NAPLEX performance to presence of pharmacist licensure, r values of 0.37 and 0.39 were obtained respectively. When P3 Pre-NAPLEX performance and P4 Pre-NAPLEX performance were compared to time from graduation to pharmacist licensure, r values of 0.42 and 0.3 were obtained respectively.

Conclusions: There is a degree of correlation that exists between P3 and P4 Pre-NAPLEX performance and pharmacist licensure. Data assessed will provide additional information to inform future curricular changes.