Practice Expansion and Evaluation Project (PEEP) Program Details

Purpose and Overview

The Practice Expansion and Evaluation Project (PEEP) is designed to prepare pharmacy students for the changing landscape of pharmacy practice by engaging them in a portion of a practice transformation initiative of their choosing. This gives students a hands-on opportunity to participate in the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of a project at an established practice site. The project will be completed by the beginning of the spring semester of the third year of didactic courses, where their experiences will be integrated into the Principles of Pharmacy Practice IV coursework. However, students may begin developing their project ideas and begin working with the site before reaching their P3 year.

The project will be chosen by the student and the practice site. The topic may be related to the pharmacy setting of their choice (community, institutional, managed care pharmacy, etc. ) but the scope should be outside of the basic functions of the site. The overall goal of the student’s individual project does not need to involve a large-scale practice change, but their contribution should help improve or develop a component of the practice site that creates a meaningful impact.

Student documents, timelines, project-related materials, and the project idea submission form is housed in a Blackboard community page that is accessible throughout their P1, P2 and P3 years.

All projects will require approval by PEEP Program Directors prior to initiation by students regardless of the didactic year in which the students begin their project. Students will be able to submit a project approval form at any point during their coursework for review by the coordinators. The reviewer may approve or deny the project, or request additional information for further evaluation.

Project Scope and Responsibilities

Students will gain knowledge and practical experience in a segment of implementing or evaluating a new practice-related initiative or making improvements to an existing initiative. Students will be asked to submit an overview of their project plan idea, including a description of the students’ activities and roles. 

Examples of students’ roles or contributions to the project may include the following:

• Educating staff members about aspects of project (providing project overviews, discussing goals of project for site, developing training materials, leading training sessions)
• Identifying effective implementation strategies (utilizing appropriate implementation frameworks)
• Employing effective implementation strategies (defining goals of project, conducting research, risk mapping, scheduling progression milestones)
• Overseeing their portion of the project at their chosen practice site
• Addressing barriers and challenges encountered during the implementation process (troubleshooting issues in workflow, encouraging employee buy-in, helping sites develop ideas/plans for overcoming challenges)
• Evaluating the outcomes and impact the project has on the practice site (effect on workflow, profitability, improvements in patient care/outcomes)

Note: Students are not required to complete all aspects of implementation in order to complete their practice expansion and evaluation project. The estimated time contribution is 40 hours for each student.

Students will be asked to submit any materials created during the project, such as educational resources, protocols, or checklists as part of their final report.

Presentation and Evaluation

During the POPP IV course in the P3 year, course coordinators will evaluate the overall project based on the full project documentation materials submitted by the student.  Upon completion, students will present their work, where their presentation will be evaluated using a pre-established rubric. Presentation requirements will include:

1. Background
   1. Project Topic Description & Importance to Practice
   2. Site Context
      Detail background of site, services, patients, and environment for which the PEEP took place. Clearly articulate the gap and prior work before the project.
   3. Objective/Goal to be Completed
2. Students’ Role
   1. Responsibilities and Tasks
   2. Outcomes/Results
3. Future Plans
   1. Sustainability and Continuation
   2. Reflection and Recommendations

Goals and Objectives

• Actively participate in the development, implementation, and/or evaluation of their PEEP project
• Describe the purpose of their PEEP project
• Develop a project plan overview and activity description
• Communicate effectively with project mentors and site personnel throughout the project (providing education, soliciting feedback, etc.)
• Evaluate the impact of the project on the practice site and the profession as a whole
• Effectively present findings and experiences related to project

Didactic components related to PEEP

Foundational content related to practice transformation is incorporated throughout the didactic curriculum. Some topics may or may not be applicable depending on project focus.

• SAS 2 & 3- Implementation science foundational information, theories and models, factors influencing successful implementation
• SAS 4 (P3 Fall)
  • Value Creation
  • Marketing
  • Strategic and Business Planning
  • Healthcare reform
• POPP 2 (P1 Spring )
  • Introduction to Barriers/Key Challenges/Problem Solving: Community/Am Care
  • Documentation for E-Care plans and MTM  
  • Cultural and structural humility in practice
• POPP 3 (P2 Spring)
  • Billing, payment models, service implementation examples/activities
  • Payment models: billing mechanisms & codes, clinical documentation components, challenges to documentation and billing of clinical service, advantages and disadvantages of each reimbursement method, provider status, and appropriateness of reimbursement for a given setting and service
  • Developing and implementing advanced pharmacy services
  • Introduction to Barriers/Key Challenges/Problem Solving: Institutional/Managed Care
• POPP 4 (P3 Spring): Presentation of the Project

Timelines

P1 year

• Fall- introduction to PEEP in PoPP 1
  • Brief Project Overview during course orientation/overview
  • More thorough overview towards end of course
• Spring- PEEP reminder before community rotations in Lab II
  • A project check-in survey/form will be sent to students in early spring to monitor progress
  • A project check-in survey/form will be sent out with the student’s community IPPE exit survey to monitor progress -“first call” for projects

P2 year

• Fall- Lab III
  • A project check-in survey/form will be sent out mid-November to monitor progress
• Spring- Lab IV
  • A project check-in survey/form will be sent out mid-February to monitor progress
  • A project check-in survey/form will be sent out with the student’s institutional IPPE exit survey to monitor progress – a “last call” for the project

P3 year

• Fall- Students should work on completing PEEP project (if not previously completed)
  • All portions of PEEP should be completed by the end of the P3 fall semester. If a student does not complete their PEEP project prior to the end of their P3 fall semester, they will receive a grade of “zero” on requirements related to PEEP in PoPP IV.
• Spring- PEEP presentation and evaluation during PoPP IV coursework

General Project Processes

Note: All steps of the process may not apply to every project, and some steps may need to be repeated multiple times during the project. The following is a general example that may be modified for individual projects.

1. After identifying a project topic and practice site, the student will arrange an initial meeting with their project mentor to outline the following
   1. Discussion about potential impact of project on practice site
   2. Discussion about goals of project
   3. Overview of student’s role in project
   4. Tasks that will be completed by the student
2. Student submits “Project Approval Form” to PEEP Program Directors. PEEP program directors may approve, deny, or request additional information for project proposals. Response should be received in approximately 2 weeks.
3. Following the completion of the initial meeting, the student may need to complete background research to gain a better understanding of their project topic. An additional meeting with the site may be required to clarify certain topics or questions after completing this step.
4. The student will then work on a “first draft” of their project to discuss with the site
5. The student will then meet with the site and incorporate any feedback into their project
6. A final meeting will occur with the student and site to review any edits to the project and discuss the impact the project will have on the site/profession going forward

Students are encouraged to take detailed notes and record their sessions with the sites if possible in order to reference these experiences as they are working on their project report/presentation.

Evaluations

• Evaluation from mentor on quality of involvement
• Evaluation of written project report
• Presentation evaluation with rubric

Examples

Mentors do not need to provide this level of detail when submitting a project idea. The examples below are intended to show how a student could take a general practice-site need or topic and develop it into a structured project with specific activities, timelines, and deliverables.