Navigating the Pharmacy Landscape: A Comprehensive Look at the One-Year Diploma in Pharmacy Curriculum
The journey to becoming a pharmacist is a rigorous yet rewarding one. While a Doctorate of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) is the introductory professional degree, it is important to explore the landscape of pharmacy education. This article delves into the structure, components, and key aspects of a one-year diploma in pharmacy curriculum, drawing upon various examples and approaches from pharmacy programs.
Foundational Knowledge and Skills
The goal of the curriculum in the UMES School of Pharmacy is to offer a professional program which prepares students to acquire the knowledge, and develop the skills and attitudes required to earn the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Graduates will be entrusted to deliver contemporary person-centered care through the use of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process. Foundational knowledge of medications and pharmacy practice, public health, cultural and structural humility, patient safety, evidence-based medicine, and comprehensive medication management are emphasized.
Basic Sciences and Pharmacy Practice
The initial academic year is orientated toward courses that instruct the fundamentals of basic science and pharmacy practice.
Integrated Pharmacotherapy
The second and third academic years emphasize the Integrated Pharmacotherapy (IPT) courses. The IPT courses are an organ based approach to pharmacotherapy that combine the pathophysiology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology and therapeutics of specific organ systems. The IPT courses are complimented by a four semester series of concurrent Recitation and Rounds courses that use a Team-Based Learning approach to apply the IPT course content to realistic patient cases.
Experiential Learning
Experiential courses comprise one-third of the pharmacy curriculum. In both Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE), students develop knowledge, skills, and practice professional interactions in actual pharmacy settings. Under the supervision of faculty members or qualified licensed preceptors, students gain experience with a variety of disease states, learn to make decisions based on patient populations, and practice collaborating with other health care professionals.
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Experiential Education: Bridging Theory and Practice
A major component of the PharmD curriculum involves Introductory (IPPE) and Advanced (APPE) Pharmacy Practice Experiences. These experiences take place in a variety of locations. All students who matriculate into the program must be able to fulfill the IPPE and APPE requirements. Therefore, students must provide their own transportation that allows them to be present at IPPE and APPE locations on assigned days and times. In addition, other program-related activities may occur off campus.
Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE)
In the second and third years, students will alternate between immersion experiences, or IPPEs (Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience), in real-world settings and didactic coursework. Through the required Experiential Education program, you will take part in IPPEs during your first three years. Be paired with a community pharmacist and understand the ins-and-outs of retail and specialty pharmacies.
The P2 IPPE includes a semester-long rotation at a community pharmacy site and a semester-long rotation at a hospital/institutional site. The P2 community pharmacy rotation includes 13 longitudinal, weekly site visits on Fridays during one semester. The P2 hospital/institutional rotation includes a 40-hour immersion experience 1 week prior to the start of the semester followed by 13 longitudinal, weekly site visits on Fridays throughout the semester.
Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE)
The advanced practice experiences comprise the entire fourth year of the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. The year is divided into eight rotation blocks. Each block is six weeks long. Minimum APPE requirements include the completion of six, 6-week rotations consisting of 4 required core rotations and 2 elective rotations. Students must complete 240 hours at each rotation, for a total of 1,440 hours, to meet ACPE internship requirements. Students will have 2 off-blocks during the APPE year.
In the fourth year, you will complete a series of one-month advanced immersion experiences, or APPEs (Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience), in real-world settings. Spend your fourth year participating in APPE rotations learning the skills you need to launch your pharmacy career post-graduation.
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APPEs consist of four required rotations (adult internal medicine, ambulatory care, community practice and hospital/health-system pharmacy) and two elective rotations.
Elective Options
Students may select from two options for completing their elective coursework. Option I involves taking two semester credit hours of elective coursework in semesters 4, 5, and 6. Elective rotations vary from year to year. There are many paths for you to explore personal areas of interest through a wide variety of electives and dual degrees.
Starting in your first year, you’ll have various elective options to personalize your experience, and these opportunities continue into your advanced experiential rotation year as P4s.
Curriculum Structure and Key Components
The UMES School of Pharmacy utilizes a three-year, year-round, modular curriculum. The M-Pact curriculum is structured to ensure that students achieve thirteen competency-based educational outcomes (CBEOs) by graduation. Student learning will be assessed in didactic courses with a combination of formative and summative assessments.
Modular and Longitudinal Courses
The first two academic years will consist of a combination of required modular (block) and longitudinal didactic courses completed in-person on the UMES campus.
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Skills Lab
A four-course Skills Lab sequence run simultaneously with the integrated block courses during each of the first two years to ensure reinforcement of knowledge and development of essential skills and entrustable professional activities.
Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) in Detail
During the third year of the program, students complete 40 credit hours of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs). Each APPE course is a full-time, 40 hours/week, supervised rotation that is 5 weeks in duration, providing 5 credits and 200 hours towards pharmacist licensure. Students must complete four required APPE rotations in advanced community, advanced institutional, acute care, and ambulatory care practice. The remaining four APPE rotations can be selected from among various electives, with at least one patient care elective and one systems elective.
M-Pact Curriculum
The UMSOP PharmD M-Pact curriculum immerses you in six semesters of coursework emphasizing medication expertise, professionalism, pharmapreneurship, applied science and therapeutics, and essential pharmacy skills. You’ll participate in clinical skills labs and a seminar series that explores important and timely topics in pharmacy practice.
The second rigorous year of the M-Pact curriculum continues with the Clinical Pharmacology and Foundations of Therapeutics series that emphasizes therapeutic decision making, as well as infectious disease, pharmacokinetics, drug product formulation, management and leadership, and weekly clinical skills training.
The third year of the M-Pact curriculum challenges you with concepts of pharmacotherapy of multiple disease states during the Applied Therapeutics series. Pharmacokinetics, Population and Public Health, Critical Appraisal of Pharmaceutical Evidence, and Pharmacy Law are also emphasized, and weekly clinical skills training continues.
Upon completion of didactic requirements, you’ll be are off-campus during the entire fourth year for advanced pharmacy practice experiences, including required community, health-system, acute care, and ambulatory care rotations, as well as patient care and non-patient care elective experiences. Individual learning and mentoring take place through interaction with and supervision by qualified pharmacist preceptors.
The Foundations of Therapeutics series progresses to Applied Therapeutics and is taken alongside the Clinical Pharmacology series. These courses train you to integrate basic and clinical sciences in the therapeutic decision-making approach to person-centered care. You’ll also explore population-based health considerations for disease states, including health promotion and disease prevention.
Essential Skills for Pharmacy Practice is a series of six courses that help you develop the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that are essential to function as an independent pharmacy practitioner in a variety of health care environments. You’ll progress through self-paced learning activities, lab activities, discussions, and reflections.
Program Outcomes and Professional Competencies
The College has defined program outcomes and core skills that allow for your growth across our curriculum. In this process, students are familiarized with the 10 Professional Competencies of the Texas A&M Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, the competencies each student will have obtained upon graduation. Faculty advisers review the reflections and other submissions to provide feedback and help students focus their understanding of their professional development.
The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has three program outcomes for our Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum. Our educational outcomes reflect the essential knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors that students are expected to develop through the didactic, experiential, and co-curricular components of the PharmD program.
- Medication Specialist: Apply medication knowledge, clinical skills, and professional judgment to deliver safe, effective, patient-centered care.
- Professional: Pharmacists are committed to the well-being of individual patients and society.
- Communicator: Pharmacists build trust-based relationships with patients, caregivers, and healthcare team members.
- Leader: Pharmacists demonstrate leadership through self-awareness, reflection, and the ability to inspire and support others in pursuit of shared goals.
Assessment and Grading
Student learning will be assessed in didactic courses with a combination of formative and summative assessments. Formative assessment is a low-stakes opportunity for students to practice and demonstrate developing competencies, receive actionable feedback, and improve performance before higher-stakes assessments.
As a competency-based curriculum, M-Pact uses an honors/pass/fail grading system that emphasizes mastery of learning outcomes rather than attainment of traditional letter grades. Students receive a “pass” with an overall score of 75% or higher in didactic courses and successful completion of performance criteria in skills-based and experiential courses. The honors/pass/fail grading system encourages collaboration, reflective practice, and intrinsic motivation, while reducing unnecessary stress that can interfere with learning and well-being.
Technology Integration
You will quickly discover that our program relies heavily on instructional technologies because they enable us to teach, and for you to learn, more effectively. In your first year, you are required to start the program with an iPad and a laptop. Your iPad will be used throughout your four years in the program primarily as a testing and note-taking device. You will be required to have your iPad on hand daily. And, as a result of the ongoing crisis with COVID-19, a laptop is also required, as not all instructional software is optimized for iPads or for distance learning.
Recognition and Awards
Students’ scholarly accomplishments are also recognized through election to Rho Chi, the national pharmaceutical honor society, and through admission to the Pharmacy Honors Program.
The College of Pharmacy Recognition Awards recognize a graduate who has demonstrated an outstanding grade point average, professional attitude, and excellent communication skills. These awards include:
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Academic Achievement
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Outstanding Research
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Excellence in Patient Care
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Dedicated Service
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Exemplary Leadership
- The College of Pharmacy Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- The College of Pharmacy Alumni Association Mortar and Pestle Award for Leadership, Service, and Patient Care
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