Student Participation in Experiential Learning
At the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, experiential learning consists of a progressive set of practice-based experiences that prepares a student to practice as a generalist who is competent to provide primary pharmaceutical care.
The specific focus of experiential learning changes each year based on a combination of factors including: (1) emphasis of the learning goal; (2) the setting or context of practices; (3) the amount and continuity of contact with patients; (4) the acuity level of the patients' conditions; and (5) the expected level of proficiency in performing pharmaceutical care. The following chart summarizes the shift in emphasis in experiential learning over the four years of the professional study.
Please note that these courses require that you complete experiential rotations at facilities external to the University, and such facilities will or may require as a condition of student participation any or all of the following:
If you are unable to satisfy the requirements listed above, the University may be unable to place you in an experiential education setting and as a result you may be unable to complete the graduation requirements of the pharmacy program. Additionally, in order to become licensed, many states will inquire as to whether the applicant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, a felony, or a felonious or illegal act associated with alcohol, and/or substance abuse.
All costs associated with background checks and drug screenings are the responsibility of the student. Depending on the requirements of the affiliation agreement between the site and the University, other requested documentation may be coordinated by or at the training site or facilitated by the University using campus-based programs or by an external agency. In all cases, the student is ultimately responsible for assuring the requirements have been satisfied.
| YEAR | EMPHASIS |
| P1 | SERVICE LEARNING
|
| P2 | COMMUNITY PHARMACY PRACTICE
|
| P3 | HOSPITAL/INSTITUTIONAL PHARMACY PRACTICE
|
| P4 | CLINICAL PHARMACY PRACTICE
|
The specific focus of experiential education changes each year.
As the chart indicates, students will spend time in various practice settings during each year of study. While in the setting, students are expected to complete certain assignments, which are provided by the School of Pharmacy and their preceptor. In addition, students are expected to participate in debriefing sessions on campus. During these sessions students will exchange information about their experiences with other students in order to broaden and deepen their understanding of pharmacy practice. Students will also be asked to complete reflective writing exercises and conduct reviews on topics/issues related to their field experiences.
Resources for Experiential Learning
1. Practice Sites
A myriad of practice sites are used for experiential learning including community and hospital pharmacies; pharmaceutical care centers within ambulatory clinics, acute care, and long-term care settings; as well as alternative sites. Qualified preceptors and their practice sites are an extremely important and a valued resource. The student’s attitude and conduct at a site reflects not only on themselves as individuals, but also on the School. Students must treat these resources with respect.
During the first three years of study, most practice sites are within a reasonable distance from the University of Pittsburgh. During the last year, sites located inside as well as outside of Allegheny County are used to provide students with productive environments for mastering pharmacy practice skills. Students may be required to do rotations at sites greater than one hour driving distance from the University of Pittsburgh.
2. Preceptors
The relationship that the student establishes with the practicing pharmacist, who agrees to precept their work, is a critical factor in the quality of the experiential learning experience.
3. Reference Materials
Throughout a student’s program of studies, a variety of reference sources will be used. Some of these will be located in the practice sites where students are gaining experience; others will be in the University libraries; still others may be textbooks used for other classes.
Student Responsibilities
It is the student’s responsibility to:
1. Maintain current Professional Liability Insurance. The cost of this insurance is included in your tuition. Please check your statement to confirm this. If, for some reason, it does not appear on your statement, contact the Assistant Director, Professional Experience Programs (Ms. Anna Schmotzer).
2. Seek help from the preceptor or another pharmacist when unsure. Do not publicly question or dispute guidance by the preceptor. Discuss any disagreements in private.
3. Make sure that professional decisions and tasks are monitored adequately. NO STUDENT IS TO DISPENSE A FINAL PRODUCT OR MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING THE PHARMACIST PRECEPTOR FOR REVIEW AND APPROVAL.
4. Be aware of and comply with all laws, rules and regulations, which govern pharmacy practice.
5. Comply with the School’s policy on immunization (See General Appendices G-20).
6. Participate actively and communicate effectively in all areas of practice. Passive observation is not an effective or acceptable approach to experiential learning.
7. Obtain verification by the preceptor or other pharmacist of hours worked at the site on the time log sheet. Time logs must be completed and signed by the preceptor at the completion of the rotation.
8. Be punctual and reliable in your attendance. The student must notify the preceptor if (s)he will be late, and both the preceptor and the experiential learning coordinator if (s)he will be absent. Absences for reasons other than illness or emergencies may be granted at the discretion of the coordinator and the preceptor. The Request for Absence form must be submitted to the coordinator in advance for approval, and hours must be made up at the convenience of the preceptor. Credits toward licensure requirements and academic completion are both based upon attendance.
9. Recognize that unexcused absence may be grounds for an incomplete or failing grade.
10. Maintain your own health insurance coverage. Students may be exposed to patients with infectious diseases. Although the risk is minimal, students should exercise caution and follow the advice of their preceptor. Conversely, students who have an infectious disease that may be transmitted to a patient, such as an upper respiratory infection or gastroenteritis, should notify their preceptor so that appropriate steps can be taken to minimize exposure to the patient.
11. Transportation to and from an experiential learning site, as well as, any parking costs incurred is the student's responsibility.
12. Housing during fourth year rotations that are geographically distant from the University is the student's responsibility.
13. During the P4 Year, students must have current certification in basic CPR. Proof of certification must be given to the Assistant Director, Professional Experience Programs (Ms. Anna Schmotzer).
14. Students must attend all on-campus-debriefing sessions.
15. Students will be responsible for filing evaluations of themselves, their preceptors, and the rotation sites. Failure to file the necessary documents on time will result in a grade of Unsatisfactory for the rotation.
16. ANY STUDENT WHO DOES NOT COMPLY WITH THE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WILL NOT SATISFACTORILY COMPLETE THE COURSE.
Student Dress and Conduct
The following guidelines regarding student dress and conduct apply:
1. Students are expected to dress in a PROFESSIONAL manner at all times. Proper dress includes a white laboratory coat, preferably sport jacket length, and a nametag. Men are required to wear a tie. Jeans, shorts, casual sandals, and athletic shoes are inappropriate attire and should not be worn.
2. The student is to conduct him/herself in a manner, which is professional, courteous, and reflects positively on the individual, the preceptor and the School of Pharmacy.
3. The student will maintain all confidences with respect to patient records, pricing fee systems, et cetera, which may be revealed at the site.
4. The student is NOT to receive any financial remuneration from the preceptor during the rotation.
Selection Criteria for Pharmacist and Sites
All preceptors participating in the PEP of the School do so as volunteers. Those preceptors demonstrating exemplary practice in the field of pharmacy may submit their name to the School for adjunct faculty appointment. As a result, adjunct faculty enjoy several University privileges such as library and media services, free continuing education, but receive no financial compensation.
Criteria for Preceptor Selection Include the Following:
1. The preceptor must be a pharmacist in good standing with the State Board of Pharmacy as required by the practice of environment. Preceptors involved with the service learning aspect of the PEP are exempt from this requirement and need not be pharmacists.
2. Pharmacist preceptors must provide pharmacy services of high quality.
3. Pharmacist preceptors must abide by the Code of Ethics set forth by the American Pharmaceutical Association.
4. Preceptors must have sufficient time to organize the student’s experience and assess student progress.
5. Preceptors must engage in professional growth and life long learning through participation in professional organizations and continuing education programs.
6. Pharmacist preceptors must provide learning experiences that stress the responsible provision of pharmaceutical care and the optimization of patient drug therapy outcomes.
7. Preceptors must attend and participate in preceptor training and development meetings conducted by the School.
8. In selecting pharmacist preceptors, preference is given to pharmacists who:
All preceptors receive an annual appraisal based on student and faculty evaluations. It is each course coordinators responsibility to review student evaluations of preceptors and sites and to identify problematic issues. Once identified, all issues are brought to the attention of the Director of Professional Experience Programs who convenes a meeting of the PEP Committee to discuss student comments and plan a course of action. Actions taken may include telephone calls, site visits, preceptor training, and dismissal from the program. The results of the evaluations are communicated to preceptors annually.
Criteria for Site Selection Include the Following:
1. Pharmacy practice and service learning sites shall meet all standards set by government agencies.
2. All sites and its staff must be free of any violations of state and/or federal laws.
3. All sites must be clean and should reflect a professional image.
4. Sufficient reference materials must be available at pharmacy sites for the provision of information to health professionals and patients.
5. Students must have access to all patient pharmacotherapy information, including medication usage history, and when appropriate information regarding patient history, physical examination, disease states, and laboratory tests.
6. All sites must maintain adequate staffing to allow students a meaningful educational experience.
7. Students must be permitted to perform pharmacist functions under the supervision of the preceptor at pharmacy sites.
Pharmacist Preceptor Responsibility
1. Assume primary responsibility for the students.
2. Preceptors may designate selected teaching responsibility to residents, working cooperatively with a designated faculty member, or other qualified pharmacy practitioners that are deemed appropriate.
3. Provide orientation and definition of activities.
4. Ensure students are aware of assigned responsibilities.
5. Ensure students understand the requirements to successfully meet the rotation goals and objectives.
6. Provide a written description of student responsibilities, goals and objectives, the rotation schedule and any suggested readings.
7. Provide an atmosphere and create opportunities for students to accomplish the stated goals and knowledge base and experience.
8. Prepare and conduct discussion sessions of selected patient care topics to expand the student’s knowledge base and experiences.
9. Provide students with frequent and specific feedback on performance, including written evaluations with identification of strengths, weaknesses and progress toward the stated goals and objectives.
10. Provide guidance and direction for improvement.
Communication and Problem Solving
The student MUST be on the Internet, obtain an e-mail address, and use e-mail for contact with the Office of Experiential Learning.
Problems that develop during the rotation should FIRST be discussed with the preceptor. If a satisfactory resolution cannot be obtained, the student should bring the issue to the attention of one of the Experiential Learning Coordinators.
The Coordinator(s) of Experiential Learning are available for individual consultations at your request.
Professional Portfolios
Students are required to bring their professional portfolios with them while performing rotations. The portfolio helps students to reflect on their professional development, to seek additional experience where needed, and provides them with a creative means of documenting their progress. For faculty and preceptors it can provide an efficient means for reviewing the student’s progress to date and developing individualized learning plans that best facilitate the student’s continued professional development.
Students should review their portfolio with their preceptor early in their clerkship as a way to provide preceptors with additional information about the development of their practice skills and professional behaviors. Preceptors should ask students to include the following information in their portfolios: (a) summary of projects completed; (b) copies of evaluations; (c) case reports or other writing assignments; and (d) slides/handouts from presentations given.
Documentation, Evaluation and Grading of Experiential Learning
1. Documentation: Students are required to accumulate a total of 1500 hours of pharmacy practice experience in order to sit for the licensure examination. The experiential learning component of the School’s curriculum can be used to fulfill 750 of these hours. Therefore, it is extremely important that students document the hours devoted to experiential learning. The Time Log and Service Learning Summary Schedule should be used for this purpose.
2. Preceptor Evaluation: Preceptors will use the Preceptor Evaluation of Student Performance Form to assess the student’s performance at the practice site and will recommend a grade of Honors, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. Preceptors should discuss his/her assessment and grade recommendation with the student. Both the student and the preceptor must sign the evaluation form.
3. Grading: Experiential learning is graded on a Honors/Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. The student’s grade will be awarded based on a combination of data provided through preceptor evaluation, self-evaluation, and faculty evaluation. A mastery approach to performance assessment is used for the evaluation. A mastery approach to learning and evaluation is based on the assumption that competence develops over time and with practice. The Experiential Learning Coordinators will determine final grades. In some instances, the grade the preceptor gives a student may differ from that given by the Experiential Learning Coordinators.
4. Self-Evaluation: At the end of each semester, students are responsible for completing a critical self-assessment of their learning. Students will use the Student Self-Evaluation of Performance Form for documenting this assessment.
5. Student Evaluation of Preceptor and Rotation Site: Students are expected to evaluate the preceptor and learning site using the Student Evaluation of Preceptor(s) and Site Form. In order to receive a grade for Experiential Learning, it is the student’s responsibility that all evaluation forms and time logs be submitted to the Assistant Director, Professional Experience Programs, Ms. Anna Schmotzer.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Training and Certification
Legislative Background
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191) was enacted as part of a broad Congressional attempt at incremental health care reform. The intent of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA – also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act) was to improve an individual’s health care portability when changing jobs and to promote administrative simplification of health insurance. In addition, the statute required Congress to enact additional medical privacy and security legislation. Therefore, HIPAA also sets forth far-reaching provisions for protecting the security, confidentiality, and privacy of health care information.
Goals of HIPAA
Title I of the law deals with improving health insurance access and portability when changing jobs and became effective in September of 1996.
Title II of HIPAA deals with administrative simplification in health care practices and covers:
More specifically, HIPAA administrative simplification calls for: