Care And Respect for the Elderly (CARE) Program
CARE, a service learning program, was implemented in fall 1999. All first
year pharmacy students are required to participate in this academic yearlong
program.
The purpose of the program is to provide student participants the opportunity to improve the quality of life of elderly patients, and learn more about the elderly in order to provide pharmaceutical care to this population in the future.
Each student is assigned to an assisted-living facility, and subsequently assigned to one or two residents in the facility. Students visit “their” resident(s) a minimum of six times each semester to provide social support, improve their communication skills, and observe visible symptoms of disease states, and side effects of medications. Students also observe at least one scheduled “Med Pass” to multiple residents, and attend multiple one-hour discussion sessions during the academic year either as a group of the whole or in groups of 10. At the conclusion of the spring semester, each student is required to give a case presentation on their assigned resident using a modified SOAP format. P-2 and P-3 student facilitators and faculty evaluate student performance during the discussion sessions.
Students are required to either:
- gain 200 hours of pharmacy practice experience between the end of the first professional year and prior to the beginning of the P4 senior experiential year;
OR
- submit documentation to waive this experience based on previous work experience as a certified pharmacy technician. It is expected that students with previous pharmacy work experience will submit the documentation necessary to waive this experience.
The goal of the Early Practice Experience is to expose students to entry-level pharmacy practice through working in a pharmacy practice site. The expected outcome is students who perform at a higher level in their didactic and laboratory coursework, and are better prepared to enter introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences, and who may make more informed career decisions, than those without the benefit of an EPE.
The Early Practice Experience requires 200 hours in either a community or a hospital pharmacy prior to the start of the P4 senior experiential year. It is the sole responsibility of the student to obtain and meet this practice requirement. The College of Pharmacy does not place students in these experiences. It should be noted that competitive summer internships and employment as an intern are hard to obtain; so again, it is expected that those students who can waive this experience will do so.
This experience:
NOTE that this experience does not replace any of the currently required Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences or Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences.
Click here for the requirements for waiving the Early Practice Experience. Students are strongly encouraged to submit the required documentation to waive the EPE early in the P1 year.
Location of IPPEs (P3 year) and APPEs (P4 year) - Experiential Program Regions
ALL students, excluding University of Texas El Paso and University of Texas Pan American cooperative program students (who are under contract to return to their home communities), are assigned to a geographic region for the P4 senior experiential year. The P4 APPE regions include:
Austin/Temple/Waco
Dallas/Fort Worth
El Paso
Galveston/Houston
Rio Grande Valley
San Antonio
(The college reserves the right to add or delete experiential regions at any time based upon resources.)
The number of positions available in each region varies depending upon contractual arrangements with practice facilities in that region. Since positions are limited in the Austin region, the majority of students are assigned to complete the pharmacy practice experiences in regions geographic areas other than Austin/Temple/Waco.Students will be given the opportunity to rank all available regions in order of preference. Assignments will be made by a computer generated random number sequencing process that takes into account student preferences. The timing of this process allows students, once assignments are made, to make housing and other arrangements. Students should consider all region assignments as final.
By virtue of region assignment for the P4 year, students are simultaneously assigned and must relocate to affiliated campuses immediately following the end of the P2 year in May. Students assigned to Austin/Temple/Waco, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Galveston/Houston will remain in Austin. Students assigned to San Antonio will relocate to The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio for the two IPPE courses as well as didactic and laboratory courses during the P3 year. University of Texas El Paso and University of Texas Pan American cooperative program students will return to their home campuses at the same time.
This policy is subject to change at the discretion of the College based on resource allocation and other factors.
The Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE)
Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) occur in the context of required courses during the P1, P2 and P3 years. Students must be registered be intern-trainees (P1 year) or student interns (after P1 year) with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP) in order to participate in these courses. IPPEs are primarily experiential activities that occur in pharmacy practice sites, but may also include simulation, volunteer activities related to pharmacy practice, and reflection on these experiences.
IPPEs that occur beginning in the summer of the P2 year and following occur in Austin/Temple, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley, and El Paso. Students assigned to these regions either by virtue of the region assignment process, or because they are part of the cooperative programs with The University of Texas Pan American and The University of Texas El Paso, will participate in IPPEs and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) in their assigned campus/region.
The majority of IPPE hours are gained through the Institutional IPPE (IPPE-I) and the Community IPPE (IPPE-C):
Institutional IPPE: This is an 80 hours (2 weeks full-time) rotation designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of pharmacy practice in the hospital setting. Under the supervision of a preceptor, the student will participate in medication order processing, demonstrate basic use of a unit does system and intravenous admixture system, articulate current institutional pharmacy standards of practice, participate in a medication safety exercise, and demonstrate cultural and social competency. This rotation occurs during the summer between the P2 and P3 years.
Community IPPE: This is an 80 hour, activity-based, experience in a community or ambulatory care pharmacy practice setting that occurs over the course of one long semester. The student spends an average of six hours per week at the practice site participating in patient care and patient safety exercises. The majority of time is spent in Medication Therapy Management (MTM) through the American Pharmacists Association's MTM certificate program. Other activities include drug utilization review, answering drug information requests, and a public health project that involves direct patient education in the community.
The P4 Senior Experiential Program Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE)
Students accumulate the majority of the internship hours required for licensure in Texas through the APPE courses which occur during the last year of the curriculum. Additional hours are gained in problem-based, interactive experience courses during the P1-P3 years (IPPEs and others).
Responding to the requirements of a "health care team" concept of patient care services, The University of Texas College of Pharmacy has developed pharmacy practices experiences at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, The University of Texas at El Paso, and at affiliated pharmacies and institutions in Austin, Temple, Waco, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley.
The Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences during the P4 year provide the UT pharmacy student with intensive involvement in ongoing professional pharmacy services; interaction with fellow students in nursing, medicine, and other disciplines; opportunities to measure one's true capacity for professional achievement in a variety of innovative patient care environments; as well as opportunities to pursue special interests--a truly interesting, exciting and challenging experience.
A description of some, but not all, of the APPEs offered in each of the regions can be found at https://utdirect.utexas.edu/phirst/rotation_list.WBX (UT EID required).
P4 Students will begin APPEs in early July, and will complete the Pharm.D. program the following May. This program is a full-time practical experience (seven six-week full-time rotations) program during which the student spends the entire length of the P4 year away from campus.
Progression to the P4 APPE courses may take place only if the student has completed all requirements for progression (i.e. successful completion of all required didactic and laboratory coursework prior to the P4 courses. If, for some reason, the student's academic progression changes, it is the student's responsibility to contact an advisor in the Office of Student Affairs to make necessary adjustments.. Students failing any courses subsequent to the region assignment process but prior to the P3 year will be delayed and may be assigned to a different experiential region depending on availability. Questions regarding progression or region assignments should be directed to the Office of Student Affairs.
.......................
Adv. Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) P4 Senior Experiential Program
Pharm.D. students will participate in
seven required APPE rotations:
1- Acute Care
1- Ambulatory Care
1- Advanced Community
1- Advanced Hospital
1- Selective (patient-focused experience)
2- Electives
Rotations are supervised by preceptor-faculty of The University of Texas as approved by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP), or college faculty. Experiential hours gained are applied to the TSBP requirement for licensure. All TSBP internship requirements for licensure are fulfilled as a part of the College of Pharmacy curriculum.
The APPEs are intended to ensure that the student gains the best possible professional practice experience. Student activities, assignments, and projects are designed to develop contemporary clinical practitioners able to meet the increasingly complex health care and drug therapy needs of patients.
During the APPEs, a student's schedule may vary with each rotation. A minimum time commitment of 44-50 hours per week is common to all rotations. Thus, it is not recommended that a student plan to have outside employment while in the experiential program. Each student should take this into account when doing his or her financial planning. Financial and other forms of assistance needed during the P4 year (APPEs) should be sought early in the curriculum. Loans and scholarships are available through the Office of Student Financial Services as well as the College of Pharmacy.
In addition to planning for the number of hours is not only the number involved, students must also plan for extended hours during any given APPE rotation. The rotation day may begin as early as 6 a.m. and may last until late evening hours and, in some instances, require overnight or weekend call. Adequate child and other dependent care must be obtained prior to the start of rotations to ensure that interns can be at the rotation site during the hours required.
NOTE that transportation to and from assigned practice sites for ALL practice experiences (IPPE, APPE, and other) in the curriculum is the sole responsibility of the student, and the location of available practice sites may require that the student drive, or be transported, for more than one hour each way.
Please see www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/general/experiential/student/immunization.html for a current listing.
The college-endorsed student liability insurance policy DOES NOT cover students practicing as pharmacy technicians, serving as pharmacist-interns outside of the college's program, or graduates continuing their internship status prior to licensure. An extension of this policy can be purchased directly from a liability insurance provider after college coverage has expired. Additional information is available in the Office of Student Affairs.
Students must comply with the following before participating in any experiential courses:
During the first year of the pharmacy curriculum, all students make application to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to become student intern trainees. In the last year of the curriculum, pharmacy students make application to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to become a pharmacist in Texas, and to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy to take the North American Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NAPLEX®) and the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (MPJE™). Successful completion of both exams is necessary to become licensed in most states; please check individual state board of pharmacy for their specific requirements for licensure. Licensure and exam fees vary.
Registration as a student pharmacist intern
Upon matriculation to the first professional year in the College of Pharmacy, each student must apply to become an intern trainee with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Each student must be registered as an intern trainee, and subsequently as a student-intern, in order to acquire, through pharmacy courses, the internship hours necessary for licensure as a pharmacist in Texas following graduation. Only after completion of the first professional year (at least thirty semester hours) as certified by the College of Pharmacy may the intern-trainee become a student-intern with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. The College of Pharmacy directs this process, and additional information is provided to students who matriculate into the professional program. Students should be aware that a social security card or tax ID number is required to process the intern application. Students not able to obtain either a social security card or tax ID number cannot become student interns, and therefore cannot complete the College of Pharmacy curriculum.
Students should be aware that the process of registration as an intern includes a criminal history and fingerprint check. The existence of a criminal record may preclude the student from registration as an intern and from subsequent licensure as a pharmacist in Texas. However, the Texas State Board of Pharmacy may grant limited internship status under certain conditions to those with prior convictions. It is possible that health care facilities in which students are placed for internship may mandate an additional background check and/or drug screen. Students assigned to these facilities must comply with all such requirements. If a student cannot be placed in health care facilities because of prior convictions that appear on any background check, or because of a positive drug screen, his or her graduation may not be possible or may be significantly delayed. For specific requirements related to student interns, see http://info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=4&ti=22&pt=15&ch=283&rl=Y
After completing the first professional year (at least thirty semester hours), students registered as student-interns may earn internship hours toward licensure not only through professional sequence pharmacy courses but also outside the academic program through employment in certain practice settings. Internship hours gained outside the College of Pharmacy curriculum, however, may not replace any portion of the College of Pharmacy's experiential program required for graduation.
Graduates of the College of Pharmacy are eligible to apply to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy for licensure as pharmacists. Licensure exams may be taken shortly after graduation. Postgraduate internship experience is not currently required for Texas licensure but may be required for licensure in other states.
Additional information about requirements for pharmacy licensure in Texas is available from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, William P. Hobby Building, 333 Guadalupe Street. The mailing address is PO Box 21, Austin TX 78701-3942. The URL is http://www.tsbp.state.tx.us/, and the telephone number is (512) 305-8000.
Intern registration and pharmacist licensure requirements are subject to change by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Students and graduates must meet current requirements, even if they differ from those described above.
| To request additional information, please send email to: | ||||
|
Jennifer Ridings-Myhra Assistant Dean for Experiential and Professional Affairs |
William McIntyre Associate Dean for Clinical Programs |
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| Danette Adams Administrative Associate |
Sherrie Bendele IPPE Program Coordinator |
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College Information
Mailing Address:
College of Pharmacy
The University of Texas
at Austin
2409 University Ave.
Stop A1900
Austin, TX, USA
78712-1113
Email Address: pharmacy
@www.utexas.edu
Phone:
1-512-471-1737
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