by Teresa Elsobky, Pharm.D., PGY2
Psychiatric Pharmacy Resident, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
Introductory
Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) are a requirement designed to be a
pharmacy student’s first structured experience with direct patient care in a health
care setting.1 They provide
transitional experiential activities and active learning opportunities for students
to apply lessons learned in the classroom in the “real world.”2 As a
pharmacy student, I had to complete two IPPEs: a 40-hour IPPE community experience
and an 80-hour IPPE institutional experience. My IPPE institutional rotation
experience, in particular, stands out in my mind. During this rotation, I did
not have a chance to participate in the medication use process in its entirety
– from when a prescriber writes a medication order to when the medication is
administered to the patient. While I mastered
the task of stocking a Pyxis® machine, I did not understand why these
specific medications were made available or how to prevent medication errors
from occurring. During that introductory experience, I never entered a
medication order into the hospital’s health information system. It wasn’t until my advanced pharmacy practice
experience (APPE) during a institutional rotation that I learned about the
medication use process.
Image from: http://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/programs/rotations |
An IPPE
institutional rotation can be conducted in many ways, but the goals and
objectives should be clear and similar across all Doctor of Pharmacy curricula.
According to the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), an IPPE
rotation should “continue in a progressive manner leading to entry into the
advanced pharmacy practice experiences.”3
IPPE rotations should be appropriately
designed in order to prepare students for the direct patient care activities
that occur during advanced rotations. In 2009, a task force of the American
Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) developed a nationally defined set
of IPPE competencies that these competencies should be mastered prior to APPEs.4
These competencies included the following broad categories: processing and
documenting prescriptions/drug orders; understanding professional norms and
behaving in a professional manner; understanding dosage forms/devices and how
their use should be communicated to patients; and assisting patients with self
care.4 These competencies were
established to help schools and preceptors create valuable IPPE rotations with
clear goals, objectives, and activities.
After
looking at several different institutions’ IPPE rotation syllabi, here are some
general goals and objectives that I believe should be achieved during an IPPE: participating
in pharmacy operations in a role similar to the pharmacist’s,5 observing
an interprofessional team,5 explaining the roles and
responsibilities of every pharmacy staff member,6 and identifying
personal learning needs by participating in a continuing professional
development process.6
How will
a pharmacy student accomplish these objectives?
What activities can the preceptor arrange to aid in the successful
completion of these goals? Preceptors
can not spend every moment with their students during the rotation, but they
should facilitate the necessary tasks to make it a fulfilling experience.1
Certain activities that will help achieve the rotation goals include:6
being involved in the preparation and dispensing of oral, topical, and
intravenous medications; observing the medication use process (understanding
how orders are written and delivered to the pharmacy, shadowing a pharmacist as
he/she inputs and verifies medication orders, and seeing how the patient
receives the medication after the order has been processed); attending Pharmacy
& Therapeutics Committee meetings; helping to maintain patients’ medication
profiles; assisting the pharmacist report an Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR); formulating
an alternative drug selection when a drug-drug interaction exists; communicating
verbally and in writing with various healthcare disciplines and patients; formulating
a timely response to drug information questions from hospital staff members; and
utilizing resources (efficiently!) to look up answers to drug information
questions.
Creating
a quality IPPE institutional rotation is important and vital to pharmacy students’
professional growth, as this is the first structured experience with patient
care. Schools/Colleges of Pharmacy and
preceptors should focus on setting realistic goals and designing fulfilling experiences
during these rotations that will enable students to accomplish these goals. The
recommendations set forth by the AACP Task Force for IPPE rotations should be used as a resource4 and every student should be expected to master these competencies before
advancing to APPE rotations.
References
- Owle C, Lawrence S. IntroductoryPharmacy Practice Experiences: What Students Should Expect [Internet]. Southern Pines (NC): Coastal Research Group; 2011 Dec 14.
- Chisholm M, DiPiro J, Fagan S. An Innovative Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Model. Am J Pharm Educ. 2003; 67:171-8.
- American Council on Pharmacy Education Standards 2007. Accessed March 9, 2014
- Task Force on IPPE Competencies, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (ACCP). Report to: Board of Directors 2009 May.
- Ackman M, Mysak T. Structuring an Early Clinical Experience for Pharmacy Students: Lessons Learned from the Hospital Perspective. Can J Hosp Pharm 2009;62:320-5.
- Eshelman School of Pharmacy (University of North Carolina). Rotation workbook to: IPPE pharmacy students (University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy). 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment to the Educational Theory and Practice blog. It will be submitted for review and approval. Only those comments that substantially enhance the value of the blog site will be released and posted.