Exploring the impact of the United States-based accreditation council for pharmacy education certification on pharmacy education outside the United States

INTRODUCTION: The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) offers certification for interested pharmacy programs outside the United States. This study aimed to explore the reported impact of this certification on the quality of pharmacy education among ACPE-certified pharmacy programs outside the US. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on highly structured, standardized interviews. A predetermined questionnaire was designed to include both quantitative and qualitative items, which assessed participants' thoughts on the impact of ACPE certification on the quality of pharmacy education as well as programmatic and student learning outcomes. A total of 15 pharmacy colleges and schools outside the US have received the ACPE certification as of July 2020. After IRB approval, these programs were invited to participate in online live interviews, which were scheduled from May to July 2020 via Zoom®, and lasted approximately 45 min each. RESULTS: Administrators from 13 programs participated in this study (87% respondent rate). The majority of these international pharmacy programs reported that the ACPE certification had promoted the quality of pharmacy education at their institutions. However, there were different views on how the ACPE certification has affected the operation of these international pharmacy programs. There was little or no impact of the certification on financial resources, such as salaries and development funds. CONCLUSION: Despite being confined to little or no change in certain areas of their programs, all the interviewees believed the ACPE certification had an overall positive impact on the quality of their programs, particularly in the area of assessment, preceptor quality and development, improving teaching and learning methods in both didactic and experiential curricula, and developing an inclusive feedback system to receive input from various stakeholders.