The professional experience component of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program consists of a series of structured experiential learning practices, which begin during the second semester of the first professional year.

The program’s mission is to develop pharmacy students’ abilities by providing exemplary experiential learning opportunities through diverse practice scenarios; committed, adept preceptors; and interdisciplinary teamwork. The vision is to be recognized by our students, preceptors, and health-related institutions as a leader in pharmacy experiential education.

The experiences occur in a variety of settings including hospitals, community pharmacies, and the pharmaceutical industry, among others. Students may need to complete experiential education assignments at sites outside the San Juan metropolitan area. The practices are organized as a curricular progression leading to eight advanced practice experiences (four required and four selective) in the fourth professional year of the curriculum. A total of 1,890 contact hours are distributed and offered in the curricular sequence, as they appear in the following table.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PRACTICES

First Year
 
Introductory Practicum (54 hrs.)
1.5 credits
Second Year
 
Service Learning (36 hrs.)
1 credit
Longitudinal Care I (36 hrs.)
1 credit
Third Year
 
Longitudinal Care II (36 hrs.)
1 credit
Management of the Practice and the Medication Distribution and Control Systems Practices: Institutional Pharmacy (144 hrs.)
4 credits
Management of the Practice and the Medication Distribution and Control Systems Practices: Community Pharmacy (144 hrs)
4 credits
Fourth Year
 
Advanced Practicums
(8 practicums – 1,440 hrs.)
  • Institutional Pharmacy Practice
  • Inpatient/General Medicine
  • Acute Care
  • Community
  • Ambulatory Care in Health Institution
  • Three (3) Selective Advanced Practices in Pharmacy
36 credits

For additional information, please contact:

Larisa Nieves Alicea, RPh, MPHE
Experiental Program Director
larisa.nieves@upr.edu