PharmD Students

During the first year, Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) are embedded in individual courses. Through these experiences, students develop professional skills in a supportive, hands-on environment. Various career and shadow experiences enable students to interact with fourth year students and pharmacy professionals to gain broad exposure to the opportunities and expectations of their future careers. In-class simulations offer students a structured and controlled environment to practice communication skills, patient counseling, and health screening techniques.

Service Learning For Health Professionals

All PharmD students complete an interprofessional Service-Learning course in their first-year. The course focuses on social determinants of health, including health care disparities and access to care for the medically underserved, while encouraging professional responsibility for civic engagement. Students in this interprofessional course work together with students from U-M’s dental, kinesiology, medical, nursing, public health, and social work programs. Each person completes 20 hours of service at one of a dozen community agencies as well as 2 hours of direct shadowing of a Social Worker. 

Longitudinal Early Practice Experience (LEPE)

PharmD students participate in a unique home-visit program called LEPE. Pairs of students are assigned to an older adult community partner who they meet with 4 times during the academic year. The meetings include guided discussions of the partner’s health history and medication usage. Each visit corresponds to an assignment in one of the core courses. Students and partners have a chance to build an ongoing relationship, while students are exposed to the wide range of issues and concerns faced by people who take multiple medications.

Community IPPE

The Community Pharmacy IPPE provides exposure to community retail pharmacy practice. Students are placed with pharmacists in selected community pharmacies to gain hands-on experience dispensing medications, performing drug therapy assessments, counseling patients about prescription and non-prescription medications, solving medication problems in the community pharmacy setting, and learning how a community pharmacy operates. Through this experience, students enhance pharmacy practice skills learned earlier in the curriculum and begin to develop the requisite skills and attitudes needed to practice effectively in the community retail pharmacy setting.

Students spend 8 hours each week for 13 weeks in the fall or winter semester participating in practice activities and engaging with health care professionals in a community pharmacy.

Ambulatory Care IPPE

The Ambulatory Care IPPE provides exposure to patient care activities in the ambulatory care setting. Students are placed with pharmacists in selected ambulatory care practices to gain hands-on experience counseling patients, taking medication histories, and solving medication problems in consultation with other health care providers. Through this experience, students enhance pharmacy practice skills learned earlier in the curriculum and begin to develop the requisite skills and attitudes needed to practice effectively in the ambulatory care setting.

The Ambulatory Care IPPE is a blend between experiential and didactic learning conducted over the course of 13 weeks in the fall or winter semester. Students receive 16 IPPE hours during the course.

Health System/Hospital IPPE

The Health System/Hospital IPPE provides exposure to pharmacy practice in a health system or hospital setting. During the third professional year, students gain practical experience with systems used to manage and control medications in this setting. Students are introduced to drug distribution systems, pharmacy operations, sterile product preparation, and medication safety and risk management systems. They respond to drug information queries, solve medication problems in consultation with other health care practitioners, provide patient education, and participate in clinical services provided by the pharmacy department (e.g., pharmacokinetic dosing services, anticoagulation services, etc.). Through this experience, students enhance pharmacy practice skills learned earlier in the curriculum and begin to develop the requisite skills and attitudes needed to practice effectively in the health system/hospital setting.

Students spend 8 hours each week for 13 weeks in the fall or winter semester engaging with health care professionals and participating in practice activities in a health system/hospital pharmacy.

Direct Patient Care IPPE

The Direct Patient Care IPPE focuses on communicating with patients to obtain medication histories, collecting information from medical records and documenting pharmacy-related activities in the medical record. Students will perform medication reconciliation, communicate potential medication-related problems to other health care providers, and educate patients about medications. During the third professional year, students are placed with pharmacists in selected health systems, hospitals or clinics to gain experience in these areas to further develop the requisite skills and attitudes needed to provide patient care.

Students spend 4 hours each week for 13 weeks in the fall or winter semester participating in practice activities and engaging with patients and health care professionals.

The fourth and final year of the program is the culmination of the first three years of clinical, classroom and laboratory preparation.  This year is comprised entirely of APPEs and is divided into nine, five-week rotation blocks. Students are required to complete eight rotations and may choose to complete a ninth. These experiences represent a full-time commitment; students spend a minimum of 40 hours each week at the experiential site or participating in site activities.

Currently, students must complete the following APPE rotations: Ambulatory Care, Community Practice, Drug Information, General Medicine, Inpatient Clinical, Health System/Hospital Pharmacy, Nontraditional, and an Elective Rotation (which must be in Ambulatory Care, Inpatient Clinical, or Nontraditional)