Opinions of pharmacy educators regarding declining North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) first-time pass rates

Abstract

Objective

Identify factors perceived by pharmacy educators to be associated with declining North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) first-time pass rates to highlight potential focused areas of further research or consideration.

Methods

Qualitative responses from a single open-ended question, “What other factors not addressed in this survey do you believe are influencing the decline in NAPLEX first-time pass rates?”, were analyzed using thematic analysis. This question was part of a 43-item Qualtrics™ questionnaire developed to gather insight from pharmacy educators regarding the impact of various factors on the declining NAPLEX first-time pass rates. Due to the large number of responses, qualitative data was analyzed separately from quantitative data.

Results

Two hundred and seventy-one qualitative responses were recorded. The analysis revealed five second-level, or higher-order categories, and sixteen first-level, descriptive codes which were used for analysis. The categories included external factors, student factors, faculty characteristics, pharmacy program challenges, and NAPLEX challenges. The first level codes included a variety of themes such as financial insecurity, increased student diversity, faculty accountability, and accreditation pressure.

Conclusions

Pharmacy educators perceive that many factors could be influencing declining first-time NAPLEX pass rates. Based on the data included in this manuscript, items to consider include providing additional financial support to aid student's ability to focus on their studies during pharmacy school, working to identify early flags that a student may need extra support to succeed, focusing on aligning what is taught in the classroom with what is being tested on the examination, and promotion of remediation strategies to ensure mastery of material.