Lebanese pharmacy core competencies framework: tool validation for self-declared assessment.

OBJECTIVES

The Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon, the official pharmacists' association in Lebanon, had suggested a core competencies framework based on global and international frameworks and adapted to the local context. The objective of this study was to validate the structure of this comprehensive set of competencies in the Lebanese context of pharmacy practice.

METHODS

The framework structure was assessed through multiple factor analyses, correlational and reliability measures of self-declared assessment, based on a cross-sectional survey of practising pharmacists.

KEY FINDINGS

The framework had adequate structural validity and reliability: all measured coefficients were of appropriate magnitude. Behaviours adequately loaded on competencies, and competencies adequately loaded on domains and the entire framework. The exploratory factor analysis showed an adequate distribution of competencies in domains. Domains were also inter-correlated, without over-correlation.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results are an essential step towards standardizing pharmacy competencies in Lebanon and show that the Lebanese core competencies framework developed by the Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon is structurally valid and reliable, although not yet applied in the Lebanese educational system. This tool would be helpful to assess the minimum competencies of pharmacists upon and after graduation.