Pharmacy Practice Experiences
Pharmacy Practice Experiences, also known as rotations, make up 30% of the pharmacy student’s curriculum. There are two types of pharmacy practice experiences: Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs). These rotations provide students with exposure to various pharmacy practice environments in order for them to develop skills in making independent judgments and integrating fundamental knowledge into clinical applications.
The IPPEs are designed for pharmacy students in their first three professional years of the Pharm.D. program. The program is designed to provide 320 hours of “hands‑on” practice experience. All IPPE requirements must be met prior to entering APPEs.
Each pharmacy student is required to complete four (4) rotations which total eight (8) credits and 320 hours.
Community Pharmacy
Under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist, students will demonstrate proficiencies in a skill set that includes: dispensing prescriptions, utilizing patient profiles, monitoring drug interactions, pharmacy operations, and basic communication with patients and physicians. This IPPE is scheduled following the first professional year.
Public Health
This course will give students the opportunity to promote the availability of preventive and wellness programs within a targeted population, participate in the development of public health policy or provide a community service, communicate effectively and efficiently with policy makers, interdisciplinary health care providers and members of the community, and apply research processes and quality improvement strategies to the provision, development or analysis of preventive and wellness programs. This IPPE is scheduled following the first professional year.
Institutional
This course is designed to introduce students to the hospital setting. Students will be introduced to distributive and clinical functions in a hospital pharmacy, including review of medication orders, observation of the order entry process and preparation of sterile products, performing patient-specific calculations necessary for dosing medications, and presenting a patient case. This IPPE is scheduled following the second professional year.
Patient Assessment
This course will expose students to the basic day-to-day operations of a patient-care setting. Students will gather and organize information from patient medical charts, conduct patient interviews to obtain an accurate medication history, identify medication related problems, present a patient case in a structured format (e.g., SOAP note) and prepare responses to drug information inquiries. This IPPE is scheduled during the third professional year.
APPEs are "hands-on" experiences designed to build on the academic base obtained in the classrooms, laboratories, and IPPE portions of the Pharm.D. program.
APPEs span an 11-month period (May-April) and are subdivided into modules. Each week of an APPE is awarded one semester hour of academic credit.
Each student is required to complete 36 weeks (36 credits). APPEs are scheduled by the College and typically require the student to be at the practice site at least eight hours daily (e.g., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. or 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., depending on the practice setting). Each student must complete four (4) required core modules and two (2) elective modules (a total of 36 weeks).
Required Core APPEs
Students must complete each of these rotations for a total of 24 credits:
- > Community Pharmacy (six weeks)
- > Ambulatory Care (six weeks)
- > Institutional Pharmacy Operations (six weeks)
- > Inpatient Care (six weeks)
Inpatient Care and Ambulatory Care rotations are direct patient care rotations in settings including but not limited to:
Anticoagulation; Diabetes Care/Endocrinology; Emergency Medicine/Toxicology; Family Practice; Home Care; Internal Medicine; Nephrology; Neurology; Nutrition; Primary Care; AIDS; Cardiology; Critical Care; Geriatrics; Hematology/Oncology; Infectious Diseases; Pediatrics; Psychiatry; Pain Management
Elective APPEs
Students must complete two of these six (6) week rotations for a total of 12 credits:
Antimicrobial Management; Clinical Toxicology; Consultant Pharmacy; Drug Programs Management; Drug Discovery and development; Governmental Affairs/Regulatory; Health Information Management; ome Infusion Pharmacotherapy; International Pharmacy; Long-term Care; Medication Safety; Nuclear Pharmacy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmacoepidemiology; Pharmacy Administration; Pharmacy Association Management; Pharmacy Database Management; Pharmacy Education and Research.
* * * Please note that all required core rotations must be completed in the United States; electives may be completed outside of the U.S. (ACPE Standard 14.5). * * *
