Graduates of the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s pharmacy college reported a lower overall first-time pass rate on a national standardized licensing exam in 2017 than in years past, which officials attribute partly to a change in the exam’s format.
A reported 72.60 percent of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy’s class of 2017 passed the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination on the first try, compared to 84.15 percent in 2016 and 82.76 percent in 2015.
Nationally, 87.95 percent of 2017 pharmacy graduates passed the exam on the first attempt, compared to 85.86 percent in 2016 and 92.64 percent in 2015.
Carolyn Ma, dean of the UH-Hilo pharmacy college, thinks the drop is partly due to a new “more standardized form” to the test. The format is now “linear” — meaning students start at the beginning of the electronic test form and move linearly to the end, she said. Previously, the test was “adaptive” where test takers were assigned their next question on the basis of how well they did on the previous item, she said.
“It’s a difficult comparison because the test has changed,” Ma said. “If it’s trying to see a trend of whether we continue to be competitive, we still are … we are still well within the standard deviation acceptable to our accreditation body … Our alumni are very well prepared in the job market, they compete with other new graduates … so I think we still churn out a great pharmacy product.
“(The scores) give us a lot of information on where we might be able to improve our review for the students before they take the exam.”
Ma also said fewer 2017 UH-Hilo graduates took the exam immediately postgraduation than in years past which is correlated with lower performance. In 2017, about 60 percent took the exam during the summer after graduation compared to about 80 percent in previous years, she said. UH-Hilo does “not have any verified reasons as to why students are taking the test later,” she said.
Carmen Catizone, executive director for the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, told the Tribune-Herald that other pharmacy schools also have seen pass rates drop as a result of the test changes “so the University of Hawaii wasn’t alone.”
Catizone said UH-Hilo’s 12 percent year-over-year drop was “right in the middle of what we saw with other programs.” He said the highest drop at a pharmacy college was about 20 percent.
“You can make those comparisons (from year to year) but you have to make them with a caveat,” Catizone said. “And the caveat is because of the changes a number of (colleges) also saw their pass rates decline.”
Catizone said UH-Hilo’s scores are best stacked against other “comparable schools” determined by factors such as the number of students and length of curriculum. In an effort to boost scores, UH-Hilo also has ramped up its exam preparation in recent years to begin earlier, Ma said. “Because boards are not something you can just cram for,” she said. “You really need to be prepared for them.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
What a joke of an academic program.. they’ve definitely built up a grear reputation. HA!
Perhaps turn this building into the trump library. Slightly less useless. But useless, none the less.
It must be hard to take a hypocratic oath to do no harm – then prescribe killer pharmaceuticals.
Carolyn Ma, Dean of UH-Hilo pharmacy college: “The scores give us a lot of information on where we might be able to improve our review for the student before they take the exam.” Hey, here’s an idea, how about improving your teaching so students learn the material. Cramming for exams only works if you already know the material. What an indictment of this program.