Perceptions of Pharmacy Educators Regarding the NAPLEX Pass Rate Puzzle

Objective: Identify perceptions from pharmacy faculty across the Academy concerning factors that may be influencing North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) first-time pass rates to highlight potential focused areas of further research based on common experiences. Methods: An anonymous 43-item Qualtrics questionnaire was distributed to faculty members from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Questions were predominantly 5-point Likert scale items (5 = very large impact) and encompassed 6 domains: pharmacy school factors, COVID-19 educational modifications, testing factors, standardized testing, applicant preparedness, and student factors. Demographic data and perceptions were reported with means and standard deviations (SD). Results: In total, 600 responses were analyzed. Respondents were predominantly female (66%) and white (78%). Most had a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and residency training and were practicing as a licensed pharmacist within the southern and midwestern United States. Respondents indicated that the decline in NAPLEX first-time pass rates is a moderate to large problem (mean 3.64, SD 0.891), and the top potential influencing factors include student quality (mean 3.99, SD 0.876), student's critical thinking (mean 3.90, SD 0.947), study habits (mean 3.74, SD 0.920), and admission standards (mean 3.67, SD 1.082). Conclusion: The top four factors indicated by respondents as impacting the NAPLEX first-time pass rates were related to the student quality. This result highlights the importance of exploring issues related to pharmacy admissions and the need to implement effective strategies to support an increasing number of potentially less prepared pharmacy students.