Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) 

Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) encompass the entire curriculum of the final year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. The University of Findlay’s APPE program provides nine, one-month rotations for students. These rotations are problem-solving and experiential-based experiences involving diverse patient populations and are designed to train students to become active members of an integrated healthcare team providing patient care.  
 
Students will gain fundamental understanding of the healthcare system and learn how pharmacists are integrated into a wide variety of  settings, working with directly with patients as well as  other healthcare professionals to improve health outcomes. 

The Goal for APPE Education 

The goal for the University of Findlay’s APPE program is to educate students to apply problem-solving skills using the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process to assess patient parameters, optimize drug therapy and provide quality patient care in various diverse practice settings. 
 
Students under the direction of various faculty and preceptors will integrate their knowledge of physical assessment, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy, pathophysiology, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in assessing patients, creating therapeutic plans and evaluating drug therapy. At each APPE Hub site, student learning will be directed by an assigned preceptor, but the student is expected to become a functioning member of the healthcare team and contribute to patient care services. As rotations progress, the students are expected to gain more independence and direct their own learning in preparation for their future as practicing pharmacists. 
 

APPE Requirements 

The following rotations are required: 

• Ambulatory Care 

• Community 

• Hospital/Institutional Pharmacy 

• General Medicine 

• Two special population rotations – (“Special population” refers to any population of patients with a specific trait or disease state in common. Examples of special populations may include geriatric patients, pediatric patients, diabetic patients, and many others.) 

• Students also select three, one-month elective rotations in any of the above areas or in other areas specific to their career goals. One of the three electives will focus on direct patient care. Elective rotation opportunities include, but are not limited to areas such as management, nuclear medicine, veterinary medicine, medication safety, any special population, medical mission trips among many others, and even international pharmacy in site such as Japan, India, or Ireland. 

APPE Hub Sites 

The final year of pharmacy education consists entirely of  experiential, hands-on training in advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) activities. With rotations in areas such as general medicine, advanced community pharmacy, geriatrics and cardiology, Findlay’s experiential program is unparalleled. Each student is matched with a pharmacist mentor, in one location, which allows each student time to establish professional relationships and truly become part of a health care team while being exposed to a variety of experiences with various pharmacists specializing in their practice areas. 

In our unique experiential program, students entering their final year are assigned to one of our “hub” sites for the completion of their required APPE. Hub sites may be a large health system or a geographic area with several smaller sites working together. Students complete their required rotations at their hub site, and they may choose to complete elective rotations “off-site.” 
 

The Hub Site model also offers several advantages. Instead of rotating through nine different locations during the final year of pharmacy education, students are able to remain in one geographic area, avoiding the need to repeatedly secure room and board in multiple locations. This model also means students don’t spend the first week of every one-month experience acclimating to their new site. Rather, they can focus on learning instead of orienting. UF students are also able to develop long-term relationships with their preceptors and other healthcare professionals. This allows them to become part of the team instead of a visitor, to become involved in projects and initiatives at their training sites, and to develop the types of relationships with preceptors that provide them with vital professional networks for post-graduation employment and career opportunities. 

For students in our on-campus learning pathway and for students in our distance learning educational pathway who are from Ohio, the University of Findlay has a close relationship with over 30 hub sites across the state.  The College of Pharmacy also works closely with many additional sites across the United States for students in our distance learning program.  

Finally, our preceptors benefit from a wealth of experience and support from a network of preceptors who are well trained, familiar with our students’ needs, and who are experienced in teaching working with students. 

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) 

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) education is incorporated into the Pharm. D. curriculum of first, second, and third professional(P1 – P3) years. 

 
The goal of the University of Findlay College of Pharmacy’s IPPE program is to provide practical, supervised, intellectually stimulating, professional experiences which will enable students to develop a fundamental understanding of the healthcare system and learn how the pharmacist integrates into various settings, not only working with patients but with other healthcare professionals to improve patient care. 
 

What Happens During IPPEs? 

Students complete supervised experiences with a pharmacist practitioner during each semester of their first, second, and third professional (P1-P3) years. Examples of experiences include, but are not limited to, community pharmacy, institutional pharmacy, long-term care, mail order pharmacy and compounding pharmacy. In these settings, student learning will mirror their didactic course work with the integration of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process. 
 
Throughout the curriculum, students will complete academic service-learning in addition to their IPPE hours each year. These service-learning experiences allow students to use the unique knowledge and skills they’ve acquired in pharmacy school to give back to Findlay and the surrounding community. 
 

 Experiential Education Goals 

The goal of our experiential education curriculum is to provide progressively advanced, high-quality experiential rotations that allow students to utilize their pharmacy education in the various practice settings in the real world.  Students will develop skills in several areas to improve patient-based health care including  application, problem solving, interprofessional collaboration, patient education, and promoting health. Students will develop into beginner patient centered care practitioners that are practice- ready.   
 

To support experiential education, the College: 

• Provides introductory pharmacy practice experiences for students in community, institutional and unique practice settings. 

• Provides advanced pharmacy practice experiences for students in community, ambulatory care, general medicine, hospital/health system and other patient centered care as well as limited non-patient care rotations. 

• Develops preceptor skills for managing student experiences. 

• Provided students with valuable and timely feedback while on rotations to guide their learning experience. 

• Engages students with interprofessional experiences to provide patient-centered care and manage population health. 

• Provides students with the opportunity to develop ownership of their own learning through reflections and self-evaluation. 

• Provides quality assignments to engage students while on rotations to develop their practice skill sets and use of evidence-based medicine. 

• Develops each student’s decision-making skills to positively impact patient outcomes. 
   

Our experiential education faculty and staff members are dedicated to supporting students in their experiential education and to supporting preceptors who supervise them. 

As such, this team of individuals: 

• Develop an environment that fosters best practices research and scholarship in experiential education by: 

• Publishing posters at state or national meetings 

• Publishing articles in peer review journals 

• Providing ACPE continuing education to the preceptor community 

• Provide structured pharmacy experiences in diverse pharmacy practice setting each year that correlates to the curriculum and reinforces student learning by: 

• Defining experiential course experiences key components of each practice area for and standardizing learning 

• Providing curriculum appropriate experiences meeting all ACPE standards for IPPEs and APPEs 

• Providing patient centered diverse population student experiences developing interprofessional team dynamics, opportunity understanding various health care provider roles, and participating in a collaborative environment with health care team members. 

• Collaborating with preceptors to update our curriculum program providing the most contemporary practice model 

• Supporting preceptors to maintain good precepting and practice skills  

• Instilling professionalism, self-awareness, leadership and  innovation into the student experience