Do students have to be ACCP members to participate in the ACCP Clinical Research Challenge?
No, student ACCP membership is not required for participation in the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge. Participation is voluntary and no entry fee is required.
Are the questions used in the competition geared toward any professional year?
The items developed for use in the competition have been geared towards those students in their first 2 years of the pharmacy curriculum (i.e., P-1 and P-2 years for most schools).
Does a team need to be in the same physical space when participating in the online round journal club portion of the competition?
Because the online journal club is timed (Teams have 75 minutes to complete the exam once they have begun), ACCP encourages that whenever possible, team members should complete the online journal club round in the same physical location in order to minimize the possibility of disruptions in internet connectivity due to technological issues. However, team members are not required to be in the same physical location in order to participate in the ACCP Clinical Research Challenge.
Only one access code will be provided to each team. Teams who choose to have their members participate from separate locations are responsible for providing and supporting their own distance technologies. Be advised that any distance technology used must enable team members at remote locations to view the computer screen of the team member who is logged into the online examination. Additionally, each institution is required to provide a faculty member proctor at all sites at which team members are competing. The name of the faculty member(s) serving as proctors must be provided to ACCP via e-mail prior to the team’s participation in the Online Journal Club Round. The ACCP faculty liaison may email all proctor information to Michelle Kucera, Pharm.D.,BCPS at [email protected].
In an effort to accommodate for the various wireless and/or conferencing technologies teams may use to access and participate in the online rounds of the ACCP Clinical Research Challenge, please review the following recommendations:
- ACCP encourages teams to use a hard line internet connection for the computer/device accessing the online rounds of the competition. Internet connection using any other form of wireless and/or tethering capability, while permissible, is not recommended.
- ACCP is able to track both the time and progression of each exam during the online rounds. Therefore, teams that experience an interruption in internet connectivity on the computer/device accessing the online rounds of the competition can contact the ACCP office to regain access to their exam.
- ACCP will not resume or reset an examination for internet connectivity issues on any computer/device other than the one being used to access the online examination, or for any failure or malfunction of distance technologies used by a team with members participating from various sites.
During the Online Rounds of the competition, must teams answer all the questions in one sitting, or can a team “save” their answers and return later to complete the questions?
A team must complete all the questions in each online round in the time allotted. A team may not save their answers and return later to complete the questions. Teams may skip questions if desired. Teams will be presented with the entire list of examination items upon initial log in and may answer the items in the order they choose. Teams will NOT receive real time feedback if an answer to a given item is correct or incorrect.
What point values are assigned to each question in the Online Journal Club Round of competition?
All items in the Online Round Journal Club are of equal value. Examinations will be scored by the percentage of items answered correctly.
What happens if two or more teams achieve a tie score during the Online Journal Club Round of Competition?
In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by the time required to complete the online journal club exam. All examinations will be time stamped. Time spent viewing instructional pages will NOT count toward your total examination time.
What time of day will the Online Journal Club Round of Competition be held?
Each team may access the Online Journal Club Competition only one time. The competition portal will be open from 7:00 a.m. – midnight Eastern time. A team must access and complete their examination within this time period.
May participants use any external resources during the course of the competition?
Teams may refer to the text and figures contained in the selected Online Journal Club article and a non-programmable calculator only. If printed materials are used, only clean copies are permitted. Any documents with additional notations are prohibited. Only the three-member student team may confer and or discuss the item in formulating their answer. No student participant may use any additional outside text or electronic resource not specified previously, or solicit input from any other individual. Students and/or institutions found in violation of this policy are subject to disqualification.
Will the Online Journal Club Round of Competition be monitored/proctored at each school?
Yes. The registering faculty member or his/her faculty designee shall be present at the time a team accesses the online competition portal and remain present until the examination has been completed. Institutions found in violation of this policy are subject to disqualification.
Can schools with several campuses compete?
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 also eligible to compete and must demonstrate accreditation or candidate status by the applicable governing body of their country.
Each institution may determine the individual student participants that constitutes its team. Should an institution have multiple student teams interested in competing, or if students from branch/satellite campuses are interested in competing, a local competition may be held.
Click here for more information on holding a local competition.
How many teams will advance to the Round 2: Letter of Intent?
All eligible teams will compete in the Online Journal Club Round. Teams achieving the top 40 scores will advance to Round 2: Letter of Intent. Teams will be notified via e-mail within 48 hours of the conclusion of the Online Journal Club Round regarding their eligibility to compete in Round 2 of the competition.
Are biosketches of the student team participants or curriculum vitae submissions required for teams advancing to Round 2: Letter of Intent or Round 3: Research Protocol Development?
No. Neither biographical information or a curriculum vitae is a required component for teams participating in Rounds 2 or 3 of the Clinical Research Challenge.
How many teams will advance to Round 3: Research Protocol Development?
Teams achieving the top 20 scores after the LOI round will be advanced to Round 3 and invited to submit a complete research proposal. Teams will be notified regarding their status to participate in Round 3 via email.
If a team participating in Round 3: Research Protocol Development chooses a trial design involving human subjects, is the development and submission of an actual patient consent form required?
No. Development of an actual patient consent form is not required. However, should a team choose to submit a proposal involving human subjects (whether the data would be obtained retrospectively or prospectively), teams must provide a description of their recruitment plan (or source data), and informed consent process (or justification for waiver of informed consent if applicable).
For more information, please refer to the Competition Schedule.