Experiential Education Program Enhanced to Offer Students Earlier Exposure to Practice Settings

This summer, the College of Pharmacy will expand its Experiential Education Program to offer first and second-year students exposure to pharmacy practice through three-week Community and Institutional Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs).

According to Rod Carter, associate dean for professional and external relations and executive director of the Experiential Education Program, these IPPEs are designed to provide students with earlier exposure to pharmacy practice settings. Students completing their first year will be matched with an IPPE in a community practice setting; after the second year students will be placed in an institutional or hospital setting.

“Through these practice experiences, students will have a point of reference and excellent foundation for their future coursework,” explained Carter. “We also want students to have an earlier chance to apply knowledge learned in didactic courses to better prepare them to provide pharmaceutical care.”

The IPPEs will be scheduled during the summer months and offered at sites throughout Minnesota. These new experiences will be in addition to the existing IPPEs, Early Pharmacy Experience with Community Teachers (EPhECT) and the pharmacy mentoring experiences for first-year students.

Planning for the Experiential Education Program changes began 18 months ago. Chris Jolowsky is assisting the college with the planning and implementation of the enhanced IPPEs. The changes are also designed to meet new accreditation standards for the college.

Students will also see changes in the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs), the 45-weeks of practice experience that begins in mid-May following the third professional year and moves through three 15-week trimesters in the fourth year of the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.

“These APPE changes will recognize that our students have completed the IPPE experiences earlier in the curriculum,” stated Carter. “We appreciate all of the participating sites, the hospitals and community pharmacies, for opening up their practices to these introductory students.”

From the Spring 2009 issue of The Record.