Key Findings and Recommendations from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Curriculum Quality Survey of U.S. Pharmacy School Faculty.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the faculty perspectives on how well pharmacy programs achieve key areas in the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) faculty survey, including administration, governance, faculty development, infrastructure, curriculum, teaching, and student supervision.

Methods: AACP Curriculum Quality Survey (CQS) data from 2016 - 2023 were analyzed. The survey included 40 Likert-scale questions (1-5: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree). Questions were categorized into themes: organizational structure, administration, faculty support, curriculum, and resources. Responses for Agree and Strongly Agree were combined to report the overall agreement levels. An Independent Samples t-test compared the mean agreement levels between the private and public institutions, and trend analysis was conducted for each item.

Results: Faculty agreements ranged from 49.8 ± 2.5% to 94.8 ± 0.7% in public and 56.2 ± 2.3% to 95.8 ± 0.7% in private institutions. Private institutions exhibited statistically significant higher agreements than public institutions in faculty development, while public institutions exhibited statistically significant higher agreements in resources, infrastructure, professionalism, and culture CONCLUSIONS: Faculty concerns include leadership, resource allocation, and professional development across public and private institutions. Recommendations include strengthening cultural competency training, leadership, governance, faculty recruitment, emerging technologies, and interprofessional education. Although based on the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 2016, these analyses remain relevant to ACPE Standards 2025, which fully incorporate the earlier standards in a reorganized format.