Critically evaluating and applying primary literature is an essential skill for clinical pharmacists. Research and scholarship contributes to improved health outcomes for patients and advances in the profession of clinical pharmacy. This innovative and unique competition offers teams of three pharmacy students the chance to participate in an online journal club and submit a clinical research proposal. NEW this year is the addition of a Letter of Intent Round. Plan now to participate in 2017.
Eligibility
Participation in the ACCP Clinical Research Challenge is voluntary, and no entry fee is required. The competition is open to pharmacy students pursuing their first professional pharmacy degree from an accredited institution or one that has been granted candidate status. Students must be in the first 2 years of their first professional pharmacy degree program (P1 and P2 students for 4-year programs; P1 and P2 students for 3-year accelerated programs and the first 2 professional years of 0–6 or 0–7 year programs). Only one team per institution can enter the competition. Institutions with branch campuses, distance satellites, or more than one interested team are encouraged to conduct a local competition. ACCP provides a written examination that institutions may use as a basis for their local competition, if they desire. This examination is now available and may be requested by the ACCP faculty liaison or registering faculty member by e-mail. Please address your e-mail request to Michelle Kucera, Pharm.D., BCPS, at [email protected].
Format
All eligible teams will have the opportunity to compete in round 1: Online Journal Club. Teams achieving the top 40 scores in round 1 will advance to the newly created round 2: Letter of Intent (LOI) Submission. In the event of a tie, the top 40 scores will be determined by the time required to complete the online journal club exam.
Teams advancing to round 2 will be provided with information regarding the research environment, which will include a specified budget and a timeline in which the proposed research must be completed. Eligible teams will have 2½ weeks to develop and submit a LOI online following the criteria outlined here.
Teams achieving the top 20 scores after the LOI round will advance to round 3: Research Protocol Design and will be invited to submit a complete research proposal. Teams will be notified regarding their status to participate in round 3 by e-mail by March 17, 2017. Proposals are due by midnight (CST) April 14, 2017. For more information on round 3: Research Protocol Design, click here.
Registration
Students are not required to be members of ACCP to participate. Team registration should be submitted online and must be initiated by a current faculty member at the respective institution. Students interested in forming a team should contact their ACCP faculty liaison.
The deadline to complete team registration and confirm eligibility is February 1, 2017. For additional competition information, including registration, schedule, FAQs, and sample questions, click here.