Objectives. To identify the variables associated with an academic pharmacy career choice among the following groups: final professional-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students, pharmacy residents, pharmacy faculty members within the first 5 years of academic employment, and clinical pharmacy practitioners. Methods. A cross-sectional design Web-based survey instrument was developed using the online tool SurveyMonkey. The survey link was distributed via e-mail and postcards, and data were collected anonymously. Quantitative analyses were used to describe the 2,494 survey respondents and compare their responses to 25 variables associated with an academic pharmacy career choice. Logistic regression models were used to predict the motivators/deterrents associated with an academic pharmacy career choice for each participant group. Results. Across all participant groups, the potential need to generate one's salary was the primary deterrent and autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to shape the future of the profession were the primary motivators. Final-year pharmacy students who considered a career in academic pharmacy were significantly deterred by grant writing. The overall sample of participants who considered an academic pharmacy career was more likely to be motivated by the academic environment and opportunities to teach, conduct professional writing and reviews, and participate in course design and/or assessment. Conclusions. This study demonstrates specific areas to consider for improved recruitment and retention of pharmacy faculty. For example, providing experiences related to pharmacy academia, such as allowing student participation in teaching and research, may stimulate those individuals' interest in pursuing an academic pharmacy career.

Objective. To review and recommend strategies for utilizing student ratings of instruction (course and instructor) including considerations regarding design, administration, and use and interpretation of results. Findings. Improving course delivery and pedagogy using student ratings of instruction requires programs to design evaluation instruments that are aligned with the following good, scholarly teaching criteria: offer 10-20 rating scale questions and at least one written response question, ensure that students understand what the questions are asking, use a standardized form for evaluating all faculty members, allow for additional tailored questions to be added to the form, and employ a four-or fivepoint rating scale with a "not applicable" option. When administering evaluations, programs should limit the number of faculty members evaluated to those teaching greater than or equal to five clock hours of lecture or schedule evaluations based on academic rank; use an online course evaluation tool; randomly select students to participate; offer the evaluation at the end of the term (and/or midpoint for team taught classes); offer the evaluation during scheduled class time; and allow for voluntary, anonymous student participation. Finally, programs should create an assessment plan that outlines the results' release timeline, a list of who will receive result summaries, and how the results will be used. Programs should also encourage faculty reflection, offer mentoring in results interpretation, coach faculty members to summarize and quantify comments and longitudinally track results using tables, and create an accountability action plan to address deficiencies. Summary. In order to better ensure that student ratings of instruction are used to improve teaching, colleges and schools should adopt intentional design, structured administration processes, and transparent reporting of results.

Objective. To introduce PharmD students to changes in calculations question types (constructedresponse versus selected-response questions); measure and compare student performance on constructedresponse and selected-response questions in a pharmaceutics course; and collect student feedback on the use of differing question types. Methods A pharmaceutics/pharmaceutical calculations examination was administered that included 15 pairs of questions; each pair consisted of a constructed-response question and a similar selectedresponse question. An online questionnaire was conducted to collect student feedback. Results. Of the 15 topics, the class scored higher on the constructed-response question for 4 topics and higher on the selected-response question for 10 topics. Eighty percent of the class preferred selectedresponse questions, although 47.8% felt constructed-response questions better prepared them for a career in healthcare. Conclusions. Students correctly answered more selected-response questions than constructed-response questions and felt more confident in doing so. Additional constructed-response teaching and testing methods should be incorporated into pharmacy education.

Tracking adherence can be a useful means of identifying opportunities to provide educational intervention to nonadherent patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of biosensing technology to track medication adherence. Searches of PubMed and Ovid IPA were conducted. The criteria for inclusion were studies that tracked and reported ingestion events. Studies that did not track ingestion events were excluded from this review. Titles and abstracts were assessed for relevance, and full-text reviews were performed on all potentially relevant studies. References from the studies retrieved from the literature searches were assessed for additional applicable articles. Overall, ingestion events were detected 91.3% of the time, with many of the failed detections being related to patients not using or inappropriately using the system. In the studies that looked at the latency time, the overall mean time to detection by the wearable sensor was between 1.1 and 5.1 min. With medication nonadherence being a persistent problem in healthcare, biosensing technology presents an innovative approach to tracking adherence. The technology has been shown to be accurate in its ability to track actual medication use in patients. It has also been shown to detect ingestions with a minimal delay after administration. Accessibility may be an issue with this technology in the future, and further studies may be necessary to access the viability of biosensing technology.

Objectives. To identify and assess the sense of wellness and balanced lifestyle Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy students have during their enrollment and what personality traits, living arrangements, or age ranges may play a role.Methods. An electronic survey was sent out to current students in their first-through third-year enrolled in Samford University's McWhorter School of Pharmacy to assess their personality traits and wellness. Results. There were observable trends in the analyses that were not statistically significant. Extraverts showed greater overall wellness when compared to introverts. Sensing and feeling individuals showed slightly higher wellness ratings than their counterparts. Individuals who lived with a roommate and/or spouse showed to have the greatest wellness among all other living arrangements. Other demographic factors and personality traits showed well-balanced distribution. Conclusion.Correlations were observed between the wellness of Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy students and their personality traits. The biggest observable difference was between extroverts/introverts and wellness.

Objectives. To determine if there is a correlation between personality traits or types and depression ratings of Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy students. A further objective of this study was to determine if there is a higher rate of depression in students with personality types that are nondominant for their gender.Methods. An online survey was sent to all full-time pharmacy students enrolled in the graduating classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS. Results. All students with severe depression had personality traits of introversion, feeling, and judging (types INFJ and ISFJ), with 50% intuitive and 50% sensing. No males in this study had moderately severe or severe depression. Most males with moderate depression were INTJ. The two females with severe depression had personality types ISFJ and INFJ. Most of the seven females with moderately severe depression were ISTJ. Anondominant personality type for gender did not have a correlation with rate of depression. Conclusion.This study was completed with the goal of creating tools and resources to decrease the number of future pharmacy students with depression. Future research should include multiple schools of pharmacy or a more general population.

Objectives. To determine whether there is a correlation between Gallup Clifton Strengths Signature Themes and personality traits in Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy students, and if there is a relationship between Clifton Strengths and age or gender.Methods. An online survey was sent to current full-timefirst-through third-year Doctor of Pharmacy students at the McWhorter School of Pharmacy to assess each student's personality traits and collect his or her Gallup Clifton Strengths results. The collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26and Microsoft Excel. Results. The top five strengths among the 92 responses were Achiever (41.3%), Empathy (27.2%), Harmony (40.2%), Learner (33.7%), and Restorative (30.4%).Females most commonly reported strengths in the Executing and Relationship Building leadership domains, while males most commonly reported strengths in the Influencing and Strategic Thinking leadership domains. The most commonly reported personality traits were Introversion (I), Sensing (S), Thinking (T), and Judging (J). Conclusion.Patterns were observed between student pharmacists' Clifton Strengths results and personality traits. There were differences observed in gender and age range.

Introduction: A private School of Pharmacy in the United States of America with a four-year programme began delivering a new curriculum in the autumn of 2021. To measure students’ performance in the curriculum, a comprehensive competency-based assessment was implemented in August 2022. Methods: An ExamSoft question item bank was developed based on existing course questions, and questions were allocated to the assessment based on competencies, Bloom’s level, item difficulty level, and the count indicated on the exam blueprint. Results: The reliability data for the assessment was good, but the results were lower than desired. Performance levels were modified to better reflect the status of first-time implementation. Conclusion: The assessment was deemed reliable, but adjustments will likely be necessary over the next several years. The ‘School Competencies and Objectives Progress Exam’ (SCOPE) 1 workgroup will reconvene next summer to discuss any desired changes in question selection, weighting, and performance levels.