Curriculum

The 6-year curriculum stresses critical thinking, active learning, and clinical experience to prepare you for practice in a variety of professional settings.

  • In the first two years of the Pharm.D. degree program, you will be expected to complete general education requirements along with your pre-professional coursework.
  • After your first two years, you enter the professional years (P1-P4) of the program, which is designed to introduce disease states from multiple points of view (i.e. pathophysiology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology and pharmacotherapy) based on the acuity of the care setting. This introduction and reinforcement spiral allows students to learn about disease states before taking part in the associated experiential experience and provide the underpinning of more severe disease. During the professional years, you must maintain a 2.30 quality point average (QPA) in all required professional courses in order to remain in the program.
  • The clinical portion of the program provides you with hands-on experience in hospitals, nursing homes, community pharmacies, government institutions, home healthcare settings, pharmacy benefits management companies, and other industries. We will work with you to place you in early and advanced experience practice sites aligned with your educational and career goals.

Co-curricular requirements

The College of Pharmacy has developed a co-curricular program to support the professional development of students. Students are introduced to these requirements as part of the professional orientation program. The activities develop students skills in areas such as collaboration, communication, service, and professionalism.

Curriculum Outline

Descriptions for the courses listed below are in the Catalog—Search “Pharmacy.”

P1 First Semester 

    
Course Course  Credits
Pharmaceutics I  BPS 319  3
Biomed & Pharm Sci I  BPS 337  4
Clinical & Therapeutics Sci I  PHP 327  3
Pharm Tech Lab  BPS 318  2
SAS I  PHP 307  3
Self-Care I  PHP 315  3
PHP Experience IPPE I – Service Learning PHP 340 or 350  1
     

P1 Second Semester 

    
Course Course  Credits
Biomed & Pharm Sci II  BPS 338  3
Clinical & Therapeutic Sci II  PHP 328  4
Integrated Lab I  PHC 316  1
SAS II  PHP 308  3
Nutrition  NFS 444  3
Immunizations  PHP 303  1
     

P2 First Semester 

    
Course Course  Credits
Biomed & Pharm Sci III  BPS 437  3
Clinical & Therapeutic Sci III  PHP 427  4
Integrated lab II  PHC 415  1
SAS III  PHP 407  3
Immunotherapeutics  PHP/BPS 415  3
Pharmaceutics  BPS 320  3
PHP Experience IPPE II – Community PHP 450  2
     

P2 Second Semester 

    
Course Course  Credits
Biomed & Pharm Sci IV  BPS 438  3
Clinical & Therapeutic Sci IV  PHP 428  4
Integrated lab III  PHC 416  1
SAS IV  PHP 408  3
Self Care II  PHP 418  3
Professional Elective    3
     

P3 First Semester

    
Course Course  Credits
Biomed & Pharm Sci V BPS 537 3
Clinical & Therapeutic Sci V PHP 527 4
Integrated lab IV PHC 515 1
Precision Medicine
and Applied Pharmacogenomics		 BPS/PHP 547 3
Pedi & Geri Tx PHP509 3
PHP Experience IPPE III – Institutional PHP 451 1
Professional Elective    3
     

P3 Second Semester

    
Course Course  Credits
Biomed & Pharm Sci VI BPS 538 2
Clinical & Therapeutic Sci VI PHP 528 4
Capstone PHP 548 4
SAS V PHP 508 3
Professional Elective    3
     

P4 Year (Summer, Fall, Spring)*

    
Course Course  Credits
APPE – Community PHP 591 6
APPE – General Medicine  PHP 592 6
APPE – Institutional PHP 594 6
APPE – Ambulatory Care  PHP 595 6
APPE – Elective PHP 593 6
APPE – Elective PHP 593 6
CPR Certification**   1
     

Total Graduation Credits

  

209

* Most students will complete 1 APPE during the summer following their P3 year, and 5 APPE rotations during the Fall and Spring Semesters of their P4 year.
** Student must be certified in CPR/First Aid (1credit) before starting advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE) during the P-4 year.

Experiential

As part of the Pharm.D. curriculum, students are required to complete both Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE).

The Office of Experiential Education in the College works closely with Pharm.D. students to match them with introductory and advanced practice experiences that align with their prior work experience and future career goals.

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences

  • Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) are essential for students in the professional curriculum to acquire an overview of pharmacy practice and its role and responsibility in health care.  Students will complete IPPE experiences in 3 different areas, service learning, community practice, and institutional practice for a total of 252 hours.
  • Additional introductory experience hours (48 hours) will be awarded in the integrated laboratory sequence through the use of simulation.

Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

  • For the APPE portion of the Pharm.D. curriculum, students are placed in 6 rotations, each lasting 6 weeks (40 hours per week) for a total of 1440 hours during their final year. APPE rotations occur after students have finished all course work and typically begin in the summer following the P3 year.
  • Of the 6 APPE rotations, the following 4 are required: community, institutional, general medicine and ambulatory. The remaining 2 are electives that allow students to gain practical experience in their area of interest or explore something new.
  • Student placements are matched through a lottery system during their P3 year. Although we have partnerships with clinical sites throughout the country, the majority of them are located in Rhode Island and the southern New England area.

HIPAA Training

  • All employees of covered entities who come into contact with Protected Health Information must complete HIPAA Privacy Training. Pharmacy students who perform externships along with those who serve as employees in community and hospital based pharmacies must also receive training. Usernames and passwords will be distributed by this office.