Implementing "Educating Pharmacy Students and Pharmacists to Improve Quality" (EPIC) as a requirement at the Wegmans School of Pharmacy

Objectives: To assess learning outcomes of "Educating Pharmacists to Improve Quality" (EPIQ), an "off-the-shelf" curriculum funded by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance. Methods: EPIQ was delivered to P3 students (n = 63) and P2 students (n = 73) in 2009-2010. The Healthcare Quality Book was added in 2010. Descriptive statistics characterized changes in student self-reported outcomes on the EPIQ standardized survey. Results: Students reported better skills and knowledge after EPIQ yet rated as only "fair" to "good" their ability or motivation to pursue quality improvement. Use of The Healthcare Quality Book was associated with a significant improvement in students' ratings of the expected usefulness of EPIQ training in pharmacy practice. Conclusions: Tools and applications are our new focus, beginning with the migration of exercises to experiential courses. Future assessments will include demographic data and separate evaluations of the course, materials, and instructor. Survey items will be grouped by knowledge, attitudes, and skills. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.