OBJECTIVE: The objective is to describe the impact of a curricular revision process using the 8-step Kotter change model to decrease curricular overload in a Doctor of Pharmacy program at a public, research-intensive school of pharmacy.
METHODS: In alignment with the 8-step Kotter change model, the first step was to create urgency for change, which was supported by calls to action to address curricular overload. Next, a coalition of change leaders was formed, who developed 7 curriculum renewal targets to collectively address curricular overload. This vision was communicated at faculty meetings throughout the change process, with requests for feedback. Five curricular working groups were formed to empower action based on their charges. Quick wins were created by early adopters, which built momentum and led to a more streamlined course change process. Lastly, making changes stick requires ongoing evaluation.
RESULTS: In total, required didactic credits were reduced from 92.6 to 79 and didactic courses were reduced from 31 to 23 while ensuring that all required content remained. For many courses, contact hours were also reduced to align with allotted credit hours. Obstacles and challenges were encountered along the way, and a collaborative approach to finding solutions proved beneficial.
CONCLUSIONS: The key recommendations for implementing curricular changes to address overload include having a change model in place and identifying change leaders to support change and address faculty concerns efficiently. Effective communication through repetition of messaging is critical. Although change is complex, leaning into it with patience and perseverance can lead to success.

The 2023-2024 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (\"the Committee\") was charged with developing programs focused on career and professional development for researchers, new faculty, and graduate students in colleges and schools of pharmacy. After reviewing exiting resources available to pharmacy faculty for grant writing, the Committee recognized a need for more comprehensive, diverse, and tailored resources for pharmacy faculty. The Committee, therefore, focused its effort on creating an intensive grant writing course intended for independent pharmacy researchers without previous major grant awards that would support writing for career development and research grant applications and cater to faculty in translational, clinical sciences, and pharmacy practice, along with fellows and residents. To implement this grant writing course and other programs to advance research progress by pharmacy faculty, the Committee proposes 3 recommendations for consideration by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and 1 suggestion for consideration by colleges and schools of pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE: The commitment of pharmacy graduates to patient care and research is crucial to advancing pharmaceutical science and practice. Consequently, the value of involving undergraduate pharmacy students in research has been increasingly recognized. Given that the College of Pharmacy at Qatar University offers two undergraduate pharmacy research courses, it is relevant to explore the perception of faculty members of the delivery, impact, facilitators, barriers, and suggested improvements in these courses. This exploration will help to improve the existing curriculum and to highlight the prospective impact of student involvement in undergraduate pharmacy research courses on the personal and professional growth of students, as well as on the progressive evolution of the pharmacy profession.
METHODS: A qualitative exploratory case study was performed in which five virtual focus groups were conducted. All eligible faculty members from the clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical science departments with experience supervising students who had taken one or two undergraduate pharmacy research courses were invited to participate. The focus group questions were based on the Theoretical domain framework of behavioral determinants. Verbatim transcription was performed, and the collected data were thematically analyzed using the computer-assisted coding software NVivo®.
RESULTS: Of the 26 eligible faculty members, 21 participated in this study. Five deductive themes were identified: social professional role and influences, beliefs about capabilities, skills, beliefs about consequences and goals, and environmental resources and behavioral regulations. Overall, faculty members identified themselves as assessors and mentors. Participants expected students to possess independence, responsibility, and motivation. They believed that students generally required more practical research skills. Several benefits of incorporating students into undergraduate research have been highlighted, including increased publication productivity and quality. However, several hurdles to undergraduate research in pharmacy have been identified, including limited resources, limited timeframes, and sometimes delayed ethical approval.
CONCLUSIONS: Faculty members expressed optimism regarding the undergraduate research courses. However, some logistical concerns, including the lengthy ethical approval process and resource availability, must be addressed to optimize the effectiveness of these courses.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factors associated with pharmacy faculty attrition and retention.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was developed that consisted of 33 closed- and open-ended items related to reasons or potential reasons for leaving academia, motivating factors for staying in academia, and personal and professional demographic characteristics. The survey was distributed via Qualtrics to all current pharmacy faculty using the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy email listserv and posted in American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy online communities to recruit participants who were no longer in academia. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS.
RESULTS: A total of 1011 current and 79 former pharmacy faculty completed the survey, with the majority being female, white, full-time, nontenure track, pharmacy practice, and at associate rank. Of the current faculty, 21.5% intend to leave their current position within the next year and 37.4% of respondents think about leaving either daily or weekly. Faculty who are no longer in academia or potentially will leave their position cited an unmanageable workload as the most impactful reason, with other risk factors, including unsupportive/inadequate direct supervisors or senior leadership and inadequate work-life balance, compensation, and resources. The top reasons for staying in academia included having an adequate work-life balance, manageable workload, and meaningful relationships with students.
CONCLUSIONS: The Academy and individual institutions must evaluate and address risk factors contributing to faculty attrition. Simultaneously, they should actively encourage conditions such as maintaining a manageable workload and promoting work-life balance to retain faculty members.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine student perceptions versus actual level of test anxiety, as measured by the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale-2 (CTAS-2), and student and faculty perceptions of test anxiety with regard to prevalence, impact, ease of treatment, and importance in pharmacy education.
METHODS: Two independent Qualtrics questionnaires were distributed via email to all students and faculty in the professional pharmacy program (years 1-4) at the University of Mississippi. The first questionnaire evaluated pharmacy students\' perceptions of test anxiety and self-awareness of personal test anxiety. The second questionnaire evaluated faculty members\' perceptions of student test anxiety. The questionnaires had 50 and 21 questions, respectively, and were developed from validated, reliable questionnaires used in Cognitive Test Anxiety (CTA) research.
RESULTS: Questionnaires were completed by 123 students and 19 faculty. Overall, 46 % of students had a self-perception of \"high test anxiety\", with 28 % having a CTAS-2 score that correlated to severe test anxiety. A majority of faculty respondents (84 %) believed severe test anxiety affects 30 % or less of pharmacy students and may be associated with poor academic performance.
CONCLUSIONS: Student pharmacists\' self-perception of test anxiety and perception of difficulty mitigating test anxiety may be overestimated. Overall, faculty accurately estimated the degree of test anxiety, felt confident in being able to help students, and believed it should receive attention from both faculty and the university.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) explore the perceptions of current remediation processes among pharmacy program administrators and faculty, and (2) identify factors surrounding successful or unsuccessful remediation in a pharmacy program.
METHODS: This qualitative study used the following 3 stakeholder focus groups with distinct perspectives: didactic faculty, experiential faculty, and administrators. A screening survey was used to identify eligible participants, and quota sampling was used to represent various institution types and stakeholder experience. Focus groups were conducted using structured interview questions by an expert interviewer who was not part of the research team. Data were coded using the constant comparison method until consensus was achieved on the identified themes.
RESULTS: Three themes associated with remediation were identified with 12 coded categories. The codes discussed by all 3 stakeholder groups included methods to identify students who need remediation, types of remediation, remediation challenges, consequences of remediation, remediation effectiveness, and necessary improvements to the remediation process. The didactic and experiential faculty groups discussed the management of remediation plans, methods of remediation prevention, and lessons learned from remediation. The timing of remediation was discussed by didactic faculty. The experiential faculty noted the need for preceptor development to provide timely feedback and ensure successful remediation. All 3 groups mentioned having clear policies and procedures for successful remediation.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, faculty and administrators had similar perceptions regarding remediation practices. The differences in concerns about remediation were most notable between the experiential and didactic faculty. While all 3 groups believed that remediation may be useful and necessary, challenges remain and monitoring is needed to determine the most effective practices, particularly in experiential education.

OBJECTIVE: Given the importance of developing student understanding and application of the Pharmacists\' Patient Care Process (PPCP), programs may be able to use successful approaches from other institutions to enhance their curricular and experiential learning and assessment of student outcomes. The study objective was to explore successful methods of integrating the PPCP and outline areas of challenge.
METHODS: This study used a qualitative study design with semistructured interviews to gain insight from participants\' lived experiences. Pharmacy faculty members participating in a national survey or who were authors of articles about PPCP initiatives were recruited to provide greater detail about building successful and innovative curricula. Thematic analysis identified commonalities and differences among the interviewed participants.
RESULTS: A total of 10 interviews were conducted. The following 4 overarching themes arose from the data: discussions around intentional integration of the PPCP across multiple core courses may foster innovations in teaching strategies; intentional integration alone does not equate to PPCP integration across the curriculum; intentional integration may enhance program assessment; and PPCP data from experiential coursework may not be widely used in curricular continuous quality improvement.
CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy programs will ideally involve the entire faculty, including experiential and basic and social/administrative science members, in weaving the PPCP throughout the curriculum. Rigorous assessment can better inform interventions related to student competency in various steps of the PPCP. Pharmacy programs should also clarify how data obtained from preceptors observing student performance in each of the PPCP steps are used to assess student mastery of this critical skill.

OBJECTIVE: Pharmacists play pivotal roles in improving vaccination rates. However, absence of vaccination-related undergraduate education impedes their ability for these roles. The study aims were to scope vaccination-related education in pharmacy colleges in the Middle East (ME) and to describe potential facilitators and barriers to vaccination administration education using Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.
METHODS: A multinational survey of pharmacy faculty across 14 Arabic-speaking ME countries, involving 132 colleges, examined vaccination education. Data collection involved contacting deans for faculty nominations. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.
RESULTS: The questionnaire response rate was 64.7% (89/132), with 89.9% of colleges including vaccination in their curricula. The topics commonly covered included vaccine development (n = 44, 97.8%), vaccine routes of administration (n = 43, 97.7%), and vaccine indications (n = 38, 95%). Planning and marketing vaccination programs (n = 35, 77.8%), documentation and record-keeping of vaccinations (n = 33, 75.0%), and legal and regulatory issues related to vaccinations (n = 32, 69.6%) were the least adequately covered topics. Most common methods used in teaching were didactic lectures (n = 74, 92.5%). Overall, 53 of 87 respondents (60.9%) responded that their college does not currently teach \"vaccination administration\". Lack of resources, attitudes of other health professionals and not prioritizing vaccination were considered as barriers for implementing vaccination administration.
CONCLUSIONS: Most pharmacy colleges in the ME cover vaccination-related topics in undergraduate curricula, yet they underemphasize vaccination administration and lack experiential learning methods. Implementing vaccination administration education requires addressing barriers related to the outer and inner settings, and planning, with stakeholder engagement.

OBJECTIVE: To describe existing growth mindset literature within pharmacy and health care education, describe how a growth mindset can be beneficial in the accreditation process, and propose potential ways to promote a growth mindset in faculty, preceptors, students, and staff within pharmacy education.
RESULTS: To help pharmacy learners develop a growth mindset, existing literature emphasizes the need for a shift toward and aligning assessment with a growth mindset, helping to create self-directed adaptive learners, leading to health care providers who can adjust their practice to tackle expected and unexpected challenges throughout their careers. Strategies to create a culture of growth mindset identified include training faculty and learners on growth mindset and developing new assessments that track a learner\'s growth. Recommendations for pharmacy educators include encouraging educators to assess their own growth mindset and use a variety of teaching methods and provide feedback on learner effort that encourages the process of learning rather than focusing on individual attributes, traits, and results.
CONCLUSIONS: Growth mindset intersects with accreditation standards for both professional degree programs and providers of continuing pharmacy education. Continuing professional development process is one way to encourage faculty, staff, and students to develop a growth mindset. While a growth mindset can have many positive impacts on pharmacy accreditation, it is essential to recognize that achieving and maintaining accreditation is a multifaceted process involving numerous factors. A growth mindset can positively influence pharmacy education accreditation by fostering a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, resilience, student-centeredness, data-driven decision-making, collaboration, and effective leadership.

Academic Entitlement (AE) is the expectation by students to receive high grades or preferential treatment without significant effort. Exploring AE from faculty perspective has not been investigated in Arab colleges of pharmacy. The aim of this study was to explore experiences and perceptions towards student AE among pharmacy faculty in the Arab World. A cross-sectional, self-administered, anonymous, electronic survey was sent to pharmacy faculty across pharmacy colleges in Arab countries. The survey collected demographic data, an AE measure including 17 items reflecting seven AE components, and faculty perceptions and perceived reasons for AE. A total of 345 responses were collected. The AE level was moderate (46.05 ±7.29), and the highest scores among its components were for customer service expectation (62%) and responsibility avoidance (59%). In multiple linear regression, AE showed positive significant association with faculty in clinical pharmacy departments and those having fewer years of experience. Most common complaints heard by faculty from students were requests to turn in assignments late (90%), while the most common communication issues faculty faced with students were unprofessional verbal communication (58%) and unprofessional messages on social media (57%). Poor admission criteria (40%) and existence of multiple private colleges of pharmacy (37%) were the most common perceived reasons for AE by participating faculty. This study reveals moderate AE experienced by pharmacy faculty in the Arab World, as well as common complaints, communication issues, and AE reasons. In collaboration with other stakeholders, faculty play an important role in indicating expectations from students regarding AE, and research is warranted to check if such interventions reduce AE among pharmacy students.