The development of a foundation-level pharmacy competency framework: An analysis of country-level applicability of the Global Competency Framework

Abstract

Background The importance and usefulness of competency frameworks (CFs) in pharmacy professional development is recognised globally. However, there is no national CF for pharmacists in Japan yet. Objective This study was conducted to measure the level of relevance of behavioural statements of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Global Competency Framework (GbCF) to Japanese foundation-level pharmacy practice, aiming for developing a national framework for foundation-level pharmacists in Japan. Methods A cross-sectional, anonymous, online self-completed survey was conducted during June and July 2018 in Japan. The questionnaire was adopted from the GbCF, translated into Japanese. A snowballing sampling approach was used. The relevance levels of the GbCF items were assessed by using 4-point Likert scales, and analysed by descriptive and inferential methods. Results A total 604 usable responses were included in analyses. High levels of relevance levels were found in two clusters ('pharmaceutical public health' and 'pharmaceutical care'), while the other two clusters ('organisation and management' and 'professional/personal') showed significantly low relevance (relevance=89.6%, 82.5%, 59.6%, and 67.9%, respectively). The study found little engagement of academic sector with framework, while industry sector showed the relevance to all clusters evenly. Regarding years working in sectors, the study found there is no progression of relevance in 'organisation and management' and 'professional/personal' competencies during foundation years, which is a worry in terms of the ability of pharmacists taking the management role transitioning towards advanced level, as well as very little professional/personal development. Conclusions The study pointed out specific competencies and behaviours which require modifications to adapt the GbCF into Japanese pharmacy practice environment. This is a key step towards development of a national framework, illustrating current Japanese foundation-level pharmacy practice compared with global standards. The findings will be used as a base for developing a framework for foundation-level pharmacists in Japan.

Development of pharmacy competency framework for the changing demands of Thailand’s pharmaceutical and health services

“…Following this first step for national CF development, several steps for future work include; 1) consensus development panels and Delphi techniques for identifying and refining competency clusters and competencies for general and service-specific levels; 2) national survey for validating applicability of the CFs; and 3) expert panels for final validation. 22,34,35,49 Using qualitative data collection technique to gather firsthand data is a strength of this CF development, but with major limitation in sample selection. Since findings were harvested from informants who were experts in all area of professional practices, there were limited numbers of key informants from private hospitals and community pharmacies.…”

The development, validity and applicability to practice of pharmacy-related competency frameworks: A systematic review

“…-One institutional framework for cancer services; 69 and -Six other national frameworks specific for heart failure, 70 diabetes, 71 pharmacists with special interest, 72 medicines information, 73 critical care, 74 and medicines use review and prescribing intervention services. 75 Also included in this review were 22 studies that evaluated validity and/or applicability to practice of a competency framework in pharmacy 9,[76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94] (this was in addition to the articles by Kennie-Kaulbach et al 59 and Carrington et al 69 that also reported the validation results of their respective frameworks) (Table 3). Of the 22 studies, the majority (n=10, 45%) were articles that evaluated the validity/applicability of a generic, sector/role-related, or specialty-specific framework in United Kingdom 76,80-82,88 , Croatia 9,93 , and other countries in Europe 83,86,94 (Table 3); Others were studies conducted in Australia 69,78,84,91 (Western Pacific); Japan 90 , Kuwait 89 (Eastern Mediterranean); USA 87 , Canada 59 (the Americas); Thailand 79 (South East Asia); and Africa (included Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and ten other countries in the region) 85…”

“…Framework validation mainly aimed to evaluate perception of applicability to practice of the identified competencies. This primarily involved profession-wide consultation conducted via online (web-based 15,20,77,83,85,[89][90][91] and email 76 ) or postal 79,82 surveys, as well as qualitative interviews. 54,81 Ranking of the identified competencies and qualitative comments by practitioners were proxy measures of applicability to practice for most of the frameworks.…”

Do Professions Represent Competence for Entry-to-Practice in Similar Ways? An Exploration of Competence Frameworks through Document Analysis

“…However, competency-based education is increasingly being referred to as a 'global education policy' (Tromp, 2018). Internationally, professions are various stages of implementing entry-to-practice competence frameworks (e.g., Arakawa, Yamamura, Duggan & Bates, 2019;Patel, Tonni, Gadbury-Amyot, van der Vleuten & Escudier, 2018). Given the important nuances in the above conceptions of competence, it is possible to see how diverse professions--with diverse ways of thinking and approaches to solving complex problems--might begin to talk about this construct in different ways as they undergo educational reform.…”