# AIM (Analyze–Interpret–Manage): A Novel NAPLEX-Aligned Analytical Assessment Framework for Measuring Individual and Team Critical Thinking Using Generative AI

## TL;DR

The AIM framework measures critical thinking in pharmacy education using a structured model aligned with professional standards and team collaboration.

## Contribution

AIM is a novel framework that operationalizes critical thinking for individual and team assessment in pharmacy education.

## Key findings

- AIM reliably distinguishes stages of critical thinking in team-based scenarios.
- AIM aligns with IPEC and NAPLEX competencies, ensuring professional relevance.
- The framework reveals consistent patterns in how learners analyze, interpret, and manage decisions collaboratively.

## Abstract

Critical thinking is emphasized across ACPE Standards 2025, the Pharmacist Patient Care Process, interprofessional education (IPE) frameworks, and licensure preparation (NAPLEX). Despite this, pharmacy education lacks a practical, theory-grounded framework that operationalizes critical thinking as an observable, assessable reasoning process, particularly in team-based and interprofessional contexts. We developed the AIM (Analyze–Interpret–Manage) framework by integrating the Delphi Consensus definition of critical thinking with the AAC&U VALUE framework, translating foundational theory into a concise, measurable, stage-based model applicable to both individual and collective cognition. AIM was tested using qualitative analysis of transcripts of student team discursive narratives of an assigned IPE scenario. Reasoning behaviors were coded by AIM stage and mapped to the 2016 IPEC Core Competencies and the 2025 NAPLEX competencies to ensure professional relevance and external validity. AIM reliably distinguished discrete stages of critical thinking across teams, revealing consistent patterns in how learners analyzed information, interpreted clinical and ethical significance, and managed decisions collaboratively. Mapping demonstrated strong alignment between AIM stages and IPEC and NAPLEX competencies. Our novel AIM framework offers a scalable approach for defining, teaching, and assessing team-based critical thinking in pharmacy education. By operationalizing critical thinking as a staged reasoning process aligned with professional standards, AIM fills a critical gap between educational theory, interprofessional practice, and licensure preparation.