Participation in the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge is voluntary. No entry fee is required. The competition will be open to all pharmacy students enrolled in a full-time pharmacy degree program earning their first professional pharmacy degrees from an accredited institution or one that has been granted candidate status. Students are not required to be a member of ACCP to participate. Each team will consist of three (3) students from the same institution. There are no specific requirements with respect to the academic years of the students forming each team.
Only one team per institution may enter the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge.
An institution is defined as one having a unique ACPE accreditation or candidate status designation. Institutions outside the United States are eligible to compete and must demonstrate accreditation or candidate status by the applicable governing body of their country. (International participants should note that items used in the competition may refer to U.S.-based guidelines. Participants should be apprised of current U.S. guidelines by referring to www.guidelines.gov. Laboratory values will be reported in both U.S. and international [SI] values. International students who qualify for the quarter-final round of competition are responsible for making their own travel and hotel accommodations, as well as for obtaining any necessary travel visa or permit to enter the United States of America).
Local Competitions:
- Each institution may determine the individual student participants who constitute its team. Should an institution have several student teams interested in competing, or if students from branch/satellite campuses are interested in competing, a local competition may be held.
- ACCP will provide a written examination that institutions may use as a basis for their local competition, if they so desire. This examination may be requested by the ACCP Faculty Liaison or registering faculty member via e-mail. Please address your e-mail request to Michelle Kucera, Pharm.D., BCPS, at mkucera@accp.com.
This ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge Local Competition Exam and Key are Copyrighted Material. Institutions and faculty members administering the exam should hold the exam and key in confidence and the material contained therein should be used only for selecting a team to represent said institution. Any use of the Local Competition Exam Key or materials contained within the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge Portal website, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication, without the prior written consent of ACCP, is strictly prohibited.
Students should not be permitted to keep a written or virtual copy of the Local Competition Exam nor should the exam or key results be posted for public viewing prior to the competition registration deadline. Students and/or institutions found in violation of the above policies are subject to disqualification.
- Each institution is responsible for setting the time schedule and determining the format in which the local competition will be made available to interested students. Institutions with more than one campus should collaborate when scheduling the local competition and designate a single best team to represent the entire institution.
- Each institution must complete its local competition and enter its team registration on or before the registration deadline.
Team Registration:
- The designated ACCP Faculty Liaison or other responsible faculty member from the participating school or college of pharmacy must complete the initial online registration form.
- Each team will select a team leader and may identify up to two (2) alternates who can serve as substitutes if an original team member is unable to participate. The names and e-mail addresses of each team member (including alternates) must be provided to ACCP by the registration deadline.
- The registering faculty member must confirm the eligibility of all team members and/or alternates online before a team will be permitted to compete in the challenge.
The Online Clinical Pharmacy Challenge portal will be open from 7:00 a.m. until midnight (EDT) on each scheduled day of competition. All eligible teams will compete in Online Round 1. The top 64 teams will advance to Online Round 2. At the conclusion of Online Round 2, the top 32 teams will advance to Online Round 3. The top 16 teams will advance to compete in Online Round 4. Teams will be notified via e-mail by 2:00 p.m. (EDT) the day after each online round of competition regarding their eligibility to compete in the next round of the competition.
The top eight teams will compete in live quarterfinal round competition at the ACCP Annual Meeting on November 11, 2023. Semifinal and final rounds of the competition will be held on November 12-13, 2023.
Each round will consist of questions offered in the three distinct segments outlined below. Item content used in each segment has been developed and reviewed by an expert panel of clinical pharmacy practitioners and educators.
Trivia/Lightning (5 minutes)
Participants will have the opportunity to answer up to 15 true-false or multiple-choice questions. Each item answered correctly will be worth 75 points. (Please note: True-false items will only be used in the online rounds. No true-false items will be used during the live rounds.) The subject content for questions in this segment will focus on the following categories:
- Pharmacology (including, but not limited to, mechanism of action, side effect profiles, drug interactions, dosing, approved indications, and monitoring parameters)
- Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
- Pharmacogenomics
- Clinical Pharmacy History
- Biostatistics
- Health Outcomes
Clinical Case (8 minutes)
Participants will be presented with a clinical case vignette (300 words or less) and a series of five one-best-answer questions based on the information in the case text and/or supporting laboratory, physical examination, and/or medical history information contained therein. Point values for each question in this category will be assigned on the basis of difficulty (one 100-point item, two 200-point items, and two 300-point items).
Jeopardy-style (12 minutes)
Participants will have an opportunity to answer questions of varying point values (100, 200, or 300 points) in five predetermined categories and may answer as many as possible within the allotted time. All items in this segment will be multiple` choice. Potential categories may include, but will not be limited to, the following.
- Anticoagulation
- Asthma/COPD
- Biostatistics
- Cardiovascular Disorders
- Clinical Trial Design
- Critical Care
- Dermatology
- Emergency Medicine
- Endocrinology
- Geriatrics
- GI/Liver
- Hematology/Oncology
- Immunology/Transplantation
- Infectious Diseases
- Men's Health
- Nephrology
- Pain and Palliative Care
- Pediatrics
- Psychiatry/Central Nervous System Disorders
- Rheumatology
- Vaccinations
- Women’s Health
Tie Breaker
Online Rounds: The team’s score will be displayed at the end of each segment of the competition. In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined on the basis of the time required to complete each segment of the competition. All examinations will be time stamped. Time spent viewing instructional pages will not count toward total examination time.
Live Rounds: Please note in the event of a tie score between teams in the Quarterfinal, Semi-Final or Final Rounds of competition, the teams will be presented with a sudden-death tie- breaker item. Teams will NOT be able to select a category for the tie-breaker items. Items for use in a tie-break situation have been pre-selected randomly from the pool of available items. Tie-break items are designed as “fill-in-the blank”/one correct answer only questions.
The moderator will read the tie break item. Each team then has 30 seconds to write down their answer on the tie-break answer form provided onsite. The moderator will call for each team to read their written answer. If only one team has the correct answer, said team is declared the winner. Should both teams answer correctly or neither team answer correctly, a second tie-break item will be introduced. However, beginning with the second tie-break item, each team must provide an answer and wager a point value along with their answer.
The wager must be a whole number greater than zero but less than or equal to the number of points said team has earned to this stage of the competition. Each team will have 30 seconds to write down their point wager and answer on the tie-break form provided onsite. The moderator will then call for each team to read their written answer and wager amount.
If a given team’s answer is correct, said team will have the amount of wagered points added to their total score. If the answer is incorrect, the wagered points will be deducted. The team with the most points after the wagered points are added or deducted to their score will be declared the winner. Should the result of the wager outcome by both teams end in another tie, the process will be repeated until a winner is determined.
The onsite judge’s panel will determine if the answer written is correct. Exact spelling of the correct answer is not required, provided the judges can reasonably determine the nature of the answer as written. Decision of the Exam Panel Judges is final.
Each team advancing to the quarterfinal round will receive three complimentary student full meeting registrations. Each team member will receive an ACCP gift certificate for $125 and a certificate of recognition. (Please note that alternates are not eligible to receive prizes.)
In addition to the above, semifinal teams not advancing to the final round will receive a commemorative team plaque for display at their institution.
The second-place team will receive a $750 cash award ($250 to each member) and a commemorative team plaque.
The winning team will receive a $1500 cash award ($500 to each member*), and each team member will receive a commemorative plaque. A team trophy will be awarded to the winning institution.
*IRS regulations require ACCP to provide a Form 1099 to the winners of $600 or more in cash and complimentary services.