The State-wide Internship Program
Substituting Required Internship Rotations
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 entering Fall 2001 and thereafter will be required to gain 200 hours of pharmacy practice experience between the end of the first professional year and prior to the beginning of the senior internship year.
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 work, are better prepared to enter the senior year internship, and who may make a more informed career decision.
Students will complete a minimum of 200 hours in either a community or a hospital pharmacy prior to the start of the senior year internship. Students are encouraged to gain more than 200 hours pharmacy practice experience in a variety of practice settings.
1If the hours gained are to count as internship hours with TSBP, this stipulation is necessary.
2All previous work experience must be verified through a standard College form.
3A revised mechanism for 3placing out 2 of either the community or hospital rotation may or may not exist.
Additional details about the Early Practice Experience are available here.
Students accumulate the majority of the internship hours required for licensure through the rotation courses which occur during the last year (Pharm.D.) of the curriculum; this is also referred to below as the State-wide Internship Program. Additional hours are gained in problem-based, interactive laboratory courses on the Austin campus where students examine actual patient cases, make therapeutic recommendations, and discuss the ramifications of their decisions.
The State-wide Internship Program
One of the most exciting and rewarding times in the pharmacy curriculum is the college-based internship program. Pharm.D. students will participate in seven rotations over a 10 1/2 month period.
Responding to the requirements of an evolving "health care team" concept of patient care services, The University of Texas College of Pharmacy has developed clinical experience 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 institutions in Austin, Temple, Waco, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley, and Texarkana.
An intellectually and professionally challenging experience awaits those who participate in the internship. The internship experience provides 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 adventure.
All students must be willing to complete the internship in a region to which they are assigned by the college. The number of positions available in each region varies depending upon contractual arrangements with facilities in that region. Since positions are limited in the Austin region, the majority of students are assigned to complete the internship in regions outside of Austin. Students will be given the opportunity to indicate preferences of regions to which they would like to be assigned. Assignments will be made by a computer-generated random number sequencing process which will take into account student preferences. This process will take place in the latter half of the second professional year to allow time to make housing and other arrangements. The regions listed below are those in which internship opportunities currently exist, but the College reserves the right to add or delete internship regions at any time based upon resources.
Progression to the internship 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 internship courses, completion of the Early Practice Experience and Proof of all required immunizations). If, for some reason, the student's academic degree plan changes, it is the student's responsibility to contact an advisor in the Office of Student Affairs to make the necessary changes. Students failing any courses subsequent to the region assignment process but prior to the internship will be delayed in participating in the internship and may be assigned to a different region depending on availability. Questions regarding academic degree plans and/or region assignments should be directed to the Office of Student Affairs.
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The internship program is a full-time practical experience program during which the student spends the entire length of the internship away from campus.
Pharm.D. students will participate in core rotations including two acute care rotations, one ambulatory care community and one institutional practice rotation; one selective (focused on patient care) rotation, and two elective rotations. Rotations are supervised by practitioner-faculty of The University of Texas as approved by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP), or College faculty. Internship 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 internship program is 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 internship experience, 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 internship program. Each student should take this into account when doing his or her financial planning. Financial and other forms of assistance needed during the internship experience 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.
Related to the discussion of hours is not only the number involved, but also the need to plan for extended hours during the 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.
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 the provider after College coverage has expired. Additional information is available in the Office of Student Affairs.
Every student is required to complete CPR Training for Healthcare Professionals before the senior internship year. This training may be accessed through University Health Services or other certified courses such as the Red Cross.
During the last semester of the pharmacy curriculum all pharmacy students make application to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to take the North American Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NAPLEX®) and the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (MPJETM), which, if passed, result in licensure. The application fees currently total $540 but are subject to change by the Board.
