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.