Pharm. D. Program - Practical Experience

Students in this program are required to gain experience in the practice of pharmacy. This is accomplished though required practical experience courses listed below. This training meets some of the practical training requirements of the Indiana State Board of Pharmacy for licensure in Indiana.

PHPR 421, 423 & 424 - Introductory Practice Experience

The Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience program is designed to provide a series of transitional experiential activities and active learning in the early part of the curriculum leading to advanced practice experiences during the final year of the curriculum. PHPR 421 (The Professional Service Experience) is introduced during the first professional year and consists of a minimum of 25 hours of client-based community service and related activities to be completed by the fall of the second professional year. PHPR 423 (The Practice Skills Experience) is introduced during the fall of the second professional year and includes a minimum of 80 hours experience in a pharmacy setting to be completed by the fall of the third professional year. PHPR 424 (The Shadowing Experience) is introduced at the end of the second professional year and involves third professional year students shadowing clerkship students on rotation. All three of these zero credit hour courses must be completed prior to entering clerkship rotations during the fourth professional year.

PHPR 468 - Patient Services Experience

Before leaving campus for in-depth practice experience, every student must work for one semester (3 hours per week) in the Purdue University Pharmacy. This is a licensed pharmacy operated under the administration of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. Under the supervision of licensed pharmacist instructors the student gains experience serving the pharmaceutical needs of the Purdue student body. Among the goals of this experience opportunity are:

• Developing good working habits and self-confidence in a busy pharmacy environment.
• Gaining hands-on experience in the use of computers in pharmacy practice.
• Gaining confidence in counseling patients on how to use their medications.

PHPR 498 & 499 - Experiential Rotations

The basic pharmaceutical care experiential rotations for Pharm.D. students are designed in terms of 8 week blocks. Through the eight week core community and hospital pharmaceutical care rotations, students will gain experience in drug dispensing and practice management-related activities as well as decision-making, direct patient care and drug information activities. Through these activities and associated projects, students will not only learn and grow professionally but will also provide valuable patient care and practice development service to the experiential site. An important emphasis of the School in the selection of experiential sites reflects the philosophy of the program as a strategy to develop students we well as advance practice in a changing health care system. The student is under supervision of pharmacists selected by the School as preceptors. It is an opportunity for the students to apply their acquired knowledge and skills to the range of professional services and activities expected in both pharmacy practice settings. This course provides the opportunity for valuable experience in the capabilities to be expected of students certified for graduation and readiness to enter into the practice of pharmacy. Through these experiential rotations, a student should progress from the student pharmacist level to becoming a pharmacist with the associated responsibilities for accountability. The community and hospital pharmaceutical care rotations may be served anywhere in Indiana with very limited availability in the Lafayette area.

CLPH 585, 588, 589 - Pharm.D. Clerkship Rotations

The School's present Pharm.D. program has a well-structured, experiential program that applies the students' didactic learning to real world experiences in providing pharmaceutical care. Through a planned student performance assessment of preceptor mentoring, students have been guided through successive rotations to gain abilities needed to deliver pharmaceutical care and motivation to become a practice advancement leader. The structural plan of the new Pharm.D. experiential program will be consistent with the present Pharm.D. program in regard to types of activities, standards of student performance and means of assessing and mentoring students within rotations. It will differ, however, in providing a greater balance of emphasis on community/ambulatory pharmaceutical care training than in the present Pharm.D. program and will provide 12 weeks for elective rotations pertinent to the student's career path preparation interests. Complementing the 8 weeks each of community and hospital pharmaceutical care rotations, 16 weeks of additional ambulatory and inpatient clerkships will allow students to further develop their clinical skills, knowledge and abilities at different clinical sites. Through the 12 week elective rotations, students will gain additional experience in role activities and projects pertinent to career development goals of the track elected by the student (e.g., ambulatory, acute care, long-term care, nuclear pharmacy, management-related path, industrial pharmacy path or graduate research preparation path).

The Indiana Board of Pharmacy accepts the hours completed during the experiential rotations as partial fulfillment of the practical experience requirement for licensure within the state. An Indiana Intern/Extern registration is required for granting of licensure credit.