Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE) encompass the entire curriculum of the sixth and final year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. The University of Findlay's APPE program provides nine, one-month rotations for students. These rotations are problem-solving and experiential-based experiences involving diverse patient populations and are designed to train students to become active members of an integrated healthcare team providing patient care.
Students will gain fundamental understanding of the healthcare system and learn how pharmacists integrate themselves into various settings, not only working with patients but with other healthcare professionals to improve patient care.
The Goal for APPE
The goal for the University of Findlay's APPE program is to educate students to apply problem-solving skills using the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process to assess patient parameters, optimize drug therapy and provide quality patient care in various diverse practice settings.
Students under the direction of various faculty and preceptors will integrate their knowledge of physical assessment, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy, pathophysiology, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in assessing patients, creating therapeutic plans and evaluating drug therapy. At each site, student learning will be directed by an assigned preceptor, but the student is expected to become a functioning member of the healthcare team and contribute to patient care services. As rotations progress the students are expected to gain more independence and direct their own learning in preparation for their future as practicing pharmacists.
APPE Requirements
The following rotations are required for sixth year APPE students:
- Ambulatory Care
- Community
- Hospital/Institutional Pharmacy
- General Medicine
- Two special population rotations - ("Special population" refers to any population of patients with a specific trait or disease state in common. Examples of special populations include geriatric patients, pediatric patients, diabetic patients and many others.)
The students also select three, one-month elective rotations in any of the above areas or in other areas specific to their career goals. One of the three electives will focus on direct patient care. Elective rotation opportunities include management, nuclear medicine, veterinary medicine, medication safety, any special population and medical mission trips among many others.
Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) education is incorporated into the Pharm. D. curriculum of P3 through P5 students.
The goal of the University of Findlay College of Pharmacy's IPPE program is to provide practical, supervised, intellectually stimulating, professional experiences which will enable students to develop a fundamental understanding of the healthcare system and learn how the pharmacist integrates into various settings, not only working with patients but with other healthcare professionals to improve patient care.
What you do
Students complete 50 hours of supervised experiences with a pharmacist practitioner during each semester of their P3, P4 and P5 years. Examples include, but are not limited to, community pharmacy, institutional pharmacy, long-term care, mail order pharmacy and compounding pharmacy. In these settings student learning will mirror their didactic course work with the integration of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process.
Throughout the curriculum, students will complete academic service-learning in addition to their 50 IPPE hours each semester. These service-learning experiences allow students to use the unique knowledge and skills they’ve acquired in pharmacy school to give back to Findlay and the surrounding community.
Experiential Learning Opportunities
My First Patient
Third-year (P3) pharmacy students have the opportunity to become their own “first patient.” Under the mentorship of fifth-year pharmacy students (P5s) P3s conduct health screenings including:
- Blood Cholesterol
- Blood Sugar
- hemoglobin A1C (sugar in blood over a 3 month span)
- Body Mass Indes
- Blood Pressure
- Spirometry (lung health)
Once the P3 students get the results of their screenings, they are counseled by a P5 about their results. P3 students compile their screening results into the development of a personalized health portfolio, which also contains assignments and reflections related to the course material.
Additionally, students are partnered up with a local Findlay non-profit organization to provide free health screenings for their clients. Under the supervision of faculty and P5 students, P3 students have their first outside patient interaction. Students use what they have learned about health screenings and healthy living to provide basic screening and counseling for community members.
Ultimately, the goal of the My First Patient program is to educate pharmacy students on the importance of healthy living while teaching them the importance of communication and the impact that pharmacists can have on their communities.
Mission
The mission of the Experiential Department is to provide progressively high quality experiential rotations allowing students to utilize their pharmacy education in the various practice settings in the real world. Students will develop skills in several areas to improve patient based health care including: application, problem solving, interprofessional collaboration, patient education, and promoting health. Students will develop into beginner patient centered care practitioners that are practice ready. Experiential sites will also be nurtured utilizing preceptor orientation and development programs.
This will be accomplished by:
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Providing introductory pharmacy practice experiences for students in community, institutional and unique practice settings.
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Providing advanced pharmacy practice experiences for students in community, ambulatory care, general medicine, hospital/health system and other patient centered care as well as limited non-patient care rotations.
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Developing preceptor skills for managing student experiences.
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Providing students valuable and timely feedback while on rotations to guide their learning experience.
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Engaging students with interprofessional experiences to provide patient-centered care and manage population health.
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Providing students, the opportunity to develop ownership of their own learning through reflections and self-evaluation.
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Providing quality assignments to engage students while on rotations to develop their practice skill sets and use of evidence based medicine.
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Developing student decision making skills that positively impact patient outcomes.
Department Goals
The department of experiential education has three goals for developing students to be patient centered care practitioners who are contemporary practice ready at the entry level.
Research & Scholarship
- Develop an environment that fosters best practices research and scholarship in experiential education by:
- Publishing posters at state or national meetings
- Publishing articles in peer review journals
- Providing ACPE continuing education to the preceptor community
- Attempting to secure extramural funding to support practice or experiential research and activities
Service
The department will demonstrate a spirit of service to the College of Pharmacy, The University of Findlay, the community and the profession of pharmacy by:
- Serving on college and university committees
- Actively participating as members or leaders in professional organizations
- Serving as mentors for experiential programs
- Engaging in outreach activities to improve health, wellness, and population health in the community at-large
Experiential Learning/Teaching
To provide structured pharmacy experiences in diverse pharmacy practice setting each year that correlates to the curriculum to reinforce student learning by:
- Defining experiential course experiences key components of each practice area for and standardizing learning
- Providing a unique mentorship program to students during their first professional year
- Providing curriculum appropriate experiences meeting all ACPE standards for IPPEs and APPEs
- Providing patient centered diverse population student experiences developing interprofessional team dynamics, opportunity understanding various health care provider roles, and participating in a collaborative environment with health care team members.
- Collaborating with preceptors to update our curriculum program providing the most contemporary practice model
- Supporting preceptors to maintain good precepting and practice skills
- Instilling professionalism, self-awareness, leadership and innovation into the student experience