Thank you for your interest in becoming part of our team of experiential educators.
The curriculum at NSU's Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy (COP) includes introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs and APPEs). Students are introduced to community, hospital, and expanded clinical practices that pharmacists are involved with. To accomplish these experiences, we have over 800 pharmacist preceptors in various practice settings throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as several global APPEs. Our preceptors are truly dedicated professionals that educate, nurture, and train our student pharmacists, providing expertise in their professional specialty area. The preceptors act as clinical affiliate professors for the courses included in the experiential education curriculum.
Student pharmacists are assigned to an IPPE community pharmacy with a pharmacy preceptor early in their training. Students are exposed to the role and responsibilities of the professionally oriented community pharmacist and the importance of effective communication between pharmacists, patients, and other health care providers. On-site experience provides basic knowledge of the drug distribution process in a community pharmacy. Legal, ethical, and practice issues in the pharmacy are also discussed with their preceptors.
Following this experience, student pharmacists are assigned to a hospital pharmacy with a pharmacy preceptor. Students participate in various aspects of institutional pharmacy practice including drug storage, drug security, and policies and procedures. The experience also provides basic knowledge of the drug distribution process in a hospital setting. Activities include prescription preparation, using a unit dose system, use of references and inventory management. During the second half of this experience the student pharmacist will begin the application of the skills, concepts and knowledge acquired in the didactic component of the curriculum in the institutional pharmacy. This course promotes the development of the pharmacy practice skills and furthers the development of communication skills. On-site experience enables students to prepare for upcoming APPEs.
Fourth year student pharmacists complete seven 6-week APPEs at approved sites with an NSU approved preceptor. The assignment of sites is based on preceptor availability and student preference and includes direct patient care experiences, and elective experiences in specialty health care areas. The required APPEs are internal medicine, ambulatory care, advanced hospital, and community pharmacy. Elective experiences cover the entire scope of practice of the clinical pharmacist.
For more information on becoming an NSU COP preceptor, visit us at New Preceptor Application. We look forward to hearing from you.