Doctor of Pharmacy, PharmD

The Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) of the PharmD Program consists of a total of 315 hours through community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, ambulatory care, and healthcare outreach and is required in semesters one through five.

• Community I IPPE: An 80-hour practice-based introductory experience designed to facilitate student learning of the role and responsibilities of the pharmacist and pharmacy intern in the delivery of pharmaceutical care in the community pharmacy setting. 

• Community II IPPE: An 80-hour practice-based intermediate experience to facilitate student learning of the role and responsibilities of the pharmacist and pharmacy intern in the medication use system in the community pharmacy setting and to expand on the abilities developed in Community I IPPE.

• Hospital IPPE: A 100-hour practice-based introductory experience to facilitate student learning of the role and responsibilities of the pharmacist and pharmacy intern in the medication use and patient care process in the health-system, with focus on the pharmacy operations, hospital administration, and regulatory and accreditation standards.

• Ambulatory Care IPPE: A 30-hour practice-based introductory experience to facilitate student learning of the role and responsibilities of the pharmacist and pharmacy intern in the use of electronic health records and population management in the ambulatory care setting.  

• Health Care Outreach IPPE: A 25-hour introductory experience to enhance the student's understanding, participation, and commitment to improving public health. Community outreach takes place through participation in health fairs, medication therapy management at Medicare Part D outreach events, immunization administration, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, and bone mineral density screening, health education workshops and many more health care initiatives.

After the completion of the IPPE, students progress to the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE), completing a minimum of 1,440 hours of APPE in semesters 7 and 8. The APPE includes four core rotations in community pharmacy practice, hospital pharmacy practice, internal medicine, and ambulatory care, with two elective rotations.

• Internal Medicine APPE: A clinical pharmacy practice rotation with emphasis on the medical management of acute disease states, rational drug therapy, and patient monitoring using the pharmacist patient care process in acute care settings. Students develop and explore their roles as part of an interprofessional healthcare team sharing responsibility with patients, caregivers and other health care professionals. (240 hours)

• Ambulatory Care APPE: A clinical pharmacy practice rotation with emphasis on the medical management of chronic disease states, rational drug therapy, and patient monitoring using the pharmacist patient care process in ambulatory care settings. Students develop and explore their roles as part of an interprofessional healthcare team sharing responsibility with patients, caregivers and other health care professionals. (240 hours)

• Hospital Pharmacy APPE: A hospital pharmacy practice rotation with enhanced experience in contemporary institutional practice as well as understanding pharmacy operations and administration, medication and patient safety, quality assurance, program development, communicating with patients and other health professionals, and providing drug information. (240 hours)

• Community Pharmacy APPE: A community pharmacy practice with enhanced experience in the contemporary community practice, including but not limited to selecting drug products, compounding, dispensing, monitoring and evaluating, communicating with patients and other health care professionals, drug information, public health, and pharmacy operations and management. (240 hours)

• Electives APPE I and II: Two elective APPEs that allow the student to explore and develop abilities in an area of interest within the health care settings or industry. This experience may be in a variety of biomedical settings including patient care, administrative, health care system, public health, governmental agency, professional organization, research, academic, pharmaceutical company, and other biomedical or health related settings. (480 hours)