California Pharmacist Vol. 73, No. 3 SUMMER 2026 - Magazine - Page 22
Collaboration, communication, and professionalism EPAs
EPA 6 – Interprofessional collaboration
Observed tasks:
• □ Participated in rounds or team huddles
• □ Clearly communicated pharmacist recommendations to other disciplines
• □ Demonstrated respect for team roles and handled disagreement professionally
Entrustment level: 1 □ 2 □ 3 □ 4 □
Key question:
• Can I trust this learner to represent pharmacy effectively and respectfully on the care team?
EPA 7 – Patient education and shared decision-making
Observed tasks:
• □ Provided clear medication counseling (indications, dosing, side effects, what to do if…)
• □ Checked understanding (teach-back, open-ended questions)
• □ Incorporated patient goals and preferences into recommendations
Entrustment level: 1 □ 2 □ 3 □ 4 □
Key question:
• Can I trust this learner to counsel a typical patient safely and effectively without me in the room?
EPA 8 – Systems-based practice and safety
Observed tasks:
• □ Identified and reported an actual or potential medication safety issue
• □ Used local systems (alerts, protocols, order sets) appropriately
• □ Escalated concerns when a patient’s safety could be compromised
Entrustment level: 1 □ 2 □ 3 □ 4 □
Key question:
• Can I trust this learner to work within our systems to prevent and catch medication-related harm?
Short Preceptor “Micro-Assessment” Template
For quick, per-encounter EPA assessments (mirroring approaches in the literature and preceptor guides):
For each observed activity, the preceptor completes:
1. EPA observed (circle or write): 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
2. Entrustment (check one):
• □ Needs frequent guidance
• □ Needs occasional guidance / nearly independent
• □ Ready for indirect supervision / independent
3. Optional comment (1–2 sentences):
• What went well?”
• “What is one thing to improve next time?”
These micro-assessments can be aggregated longitudinally to demonstrate growth in entrustment across IPPEs and APPEs, aligning
well with emerging EPA-based pharmacy assessment models.
Acknowledgment: This checklist was prepared by Perplexity Computer using these sources:
• The EPA domains (collect, assess, plan, implement, follow-up, collaborate, educate, systems/safety) and the idea of EPAs as
minimum standards for IPPE/APPE core experiences came from AACP’s COEPA 2022 guidance and preceptor webinar materials.
• The 4-level entrustment scale and “micro-assessment” approach (brief workplace-based ratings with comments) were adapted
from EPA preceptor guides in medicine and published pharmacy EPA assessment models.
• The emphasis on longitudinal, multi-evaluator assessment in authentic practice settings is drawn from longitudinal EPA
assessment studies and LIC frameworks.
• The framing around Standards 2025 (practice-ready/team-ready, IPPE/APPE emphasis, reduced simulation, CQI) is based on
ACPE’s own documents and the implementation task force paper.
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vol. 73, no. 3 | California Pharmacist
