Evaluation of the Potential of National Sharing of a Unified Progress Test Among Colleges of Pharmacy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abdulkareem M Albekairy; Aiman A Obaidat; Mansour S Alsharidah; Abdulmajeed A Alqasomi; Abdulrhman S Alsayari; Ahmad A Albarraq; Ahmad M Aljabri; Alian A Alrasheedy; Bader H Alsuwayt; Bandar E Aldhubiab; Faisal A Almaliki; Majed M Alrobaian; Mohammad A Aref; Najla A Altwaijry; Nasser H Alotaibi; Saad A Alkahtani; Saleh A Bahashwan; Yaser A Alahmadi

doi:10.2147/AMEP.S337266

Evaluation of the Potential of National Sharing of a Unified Progress Test Among Colleges of Pharmacy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2021 Dec 16:12:1465-1475. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S337266. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Abdulkareem M Albekairy¹, Aiman A Obaidat¹, Mansour S Alsharidah², Abdulmajeed A Alqasomi³, Abdulrhman S Alsayari⁴, Ahmad A Albarraq⁵, Ahmad M Aljabri⁶, Alian A Alrasheedy⁷, Bader H Alsuwayt⁸, Bandar E Aldhubiab⁹, Faisal A Almaliki¹⁰, Majed M Alrobaian¹¹, Mohammad A Aref¹², Najla A Altwaijry¹³, Nasser H Alotaibi¹⁴, Saad A Alkahtani¹⁵, Saleh A Bahashwan¹⁶, Yaser A Alahmadi¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Pharmacy, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.
³ College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ College of Pharmacy, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ College of Pharmacy, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Unaizah, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ College of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, Rafha, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ College of Pharmacy, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
¹² College of Pharmacy, Albaha University, Albaha, Saudi Arabia.
¹³ College of Pharmacy, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ College of Pharmacy, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁶ College of Pharmacy, Taibah University, Madina, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: With the expansion in pharmacy education in Saudi Arabia, there is a pressing need to maintain quality assurance in pharmacy programs using several tools. The progress test is a formative assessment tool that can serve to provide information to all stakeholders. This study evaluated the results of a unified progress test that was shared among 15 colleges of pharmacy.

Methods: The progress test was composed of 100 MCQs where 30% of which cover basic pharmaceutical sciences and 70% cover pharmacy practice. The questions were collected from all the 15 colleges of pharmacy participated in the test. The test was administered online to all undergraduate students in the professional programs of these colleges.

Results: The overall attendance rate was 80% from the total number of students enrolled in the participating colleges. Mean scores of students in basic pharmaceutical sciences were relatively higher than in pharmacy practice. The assessment results of the students in the unified program learning outcomes among colleges were higher in the domains of knowledge and skills compared to competence domain. There was a significant increment in the mean scores of the students as they progress through the years of the professional program. No correlation was found between the mean scores in the test and the cumulative grade point average (cGPA) of all students regardless of their level.

Conclusion: The results indicated growth and maintenance of the gained knowledge and skills by the students as they progress through the years of the professional program with consistency in the results among the participating colleges. Sharing a unified test was effective as a valuable tool for the colleges of pharmacy for the purposes of benchmarking and improving the curricula. In addition, it could serve to evaluate learning of students and harmonize knowledge and skills gained by students at different institutions.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; assessment; formative test; learning outcomes; pharmacy education; progress test.