Experience hours

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This is my second year in pharmacy school and we are required to spend a certain amount of hours each semester volunteering under a preceptor at a community pharmacist. Over the summer the number of hours was doubled and my program explained that the requirements from the pharmacy accreditation council has increased. I was wondering if other schools had this same experience and was wondering why internships wouldn't apply to these hours needed for the schools accreditation?

 

[Quiksilver]

This is my second year in pharmacy school and we are required to spend a certain amount of hours each semester volunteering under a preceptor at a community pharmacist. Over the summer the number of hours was doubled and my program explained that the requirements from the pharmacy accreditation council has increased. I was wondering if other schools had this same experience and was wondering why internships wouldn't apply to these hours needed for the schools accreditation?

yeah, the single most dumbest thing the ACPE has ever come up with. Our school already had requirements like this; classes previous to ours had to complete hours before P4, but we could do them wherever and we could get paid for our work, almost everyone counted their work hours as credit towards the requirement
Then ACPE said, wow IPPE or AKA slave labor would be a great idea. Except, I don't think that the total hour requirements have changed at all, we are supposed to do a grand total of 300 hours before P4 year comes. This number, to my knowledge, has not increased and will not increase for our class (2011). Each school has their own systemand way to set it up. We have to do ours while school is in session, outside of class time and there is no scheduled IPPE blocks in our cirriculum, and we set up our hours ourselves, and we have to cover both inpatient and outpatient all 3 years. Other schools have blocks in their schedules, other schools set up their students sites, other schools do it over the summer.

All in all the whole idea is a mess, and while it sounds good on paper, implimenting this puts strain on preceptors who are loaded up, strain on the students who have this extra BS to do, and strain on the schools to implement these crazy policies. IMO if the ACPE wanted to improve educational standards they should start by limiting how many schools open up

 

[xinduetimex]

yeah, the single most dumbest thing the ACPE has ever come up with. Our school already had requirements like this; classes previous to ours had to complete hours before P4, but we could do them wherever and we could get paid for our work, almost everyone counted their work hours as credit towards the requirement
Then ACPE said, wow IPPE or AKA slave labor would be a great idea. Except, I don't think that the total hour requirements have changed at all, we are supposed to do a grand total of 300 hours before P4 year comes. This number, to my knowledge, has not increased and will not increase for our class (2011). Each school has their own systemand way to set it up. We have to do ours while school is in session, outside of class time and there is no scheduled IPPE blocks in our cirriculum, and we set up our hours ourselves, and we have to cover both inpatient and outpatient all 3 years. Other schools have blocks in their schedules, other schools set up their students sites, other schools do it over the summer.

All in all the whole idea is a mess, and while it sounds good on paper, implimenting this puts strain on preceptors who are loaded up, strain on the students who have this extra BS to do, and strain on the schools to implement these crazy policies. IMO if the ACPE wanted to improve educational standards they should start by limiting how many schools open up

Am attending UB as a P-1 this Fall...

I'm curious as to how the students fit these IPPE hours into their academic schedules? Do most simply fulfill the bulk of the 300-hour requirement on the weekends? I'm stoked about being a part of the program, and would like to hear some of your experiences in it thus far - anything pertinent you could share that won't be explained during orientation (i.e. off-campus housing tips)?

 

[Quiksilver]

Am attending UB as a P-1 this Fall...

I'm curious as to how the students fit these IPPE hours into their academic schedules? Do most simply fulfill the bulk of the 300-hour requirement on the weekends? I'm stoked about being a part of the program, and would like to hear some of your experiences in it thus far - anything pertinent you could share that won't be explained during orientation (i.e. off-campus housing tips)?

IPPE are pretty much plan them when you have the time. Although I understand next year it might actually be part of the cirriculum, being a class all by itself. My class is kindof the guinea pigs and we have been through a lot of trial and error. Its stressful and tenuous. The breakdown of hours are as such P1 50h, P2 100h, P3 150h per year. Some people do weekends, and we have enough holes in the P2 schedule to fit them in on fridays and some other days of the week. P1 its not as easy, and weekends and weeknights are what to expect. It cuts into work hours too, which they advise to avoid like the plague (really its not all that bad, i manage working 15ish hours and I manage a 3.5 gpa, and thats with having a 3.0 undergrad gpa.) Its a good way to meet contacts, get your name out there to potential employers. I think P1s can benefit from this. This year it has not been as bad as last year, being that there are more out of class time, however with the work load, it can be downright demanding

And thats the problem, self scheduling is as stressful as it is time consuming, ironically that fits really well with the P2 year theme.

It has its advantages, like I said, you pick the sites you are interested in and consequentially you make connections and theres alot to be said. I got a job through one of my sites, so it pays to be proactive. You have to write journals, which are a pain in the ass, considering everything else you have to do. They are supposed to be reflective, but I have never re-read mine, I pick what i like from a site and remember it. I don't think you have to worry about this but right now for all the work and time we put into it, its 10% of your grade in a 1 credit course. Its not at all equivalent to what you have to devote.

 

[Praziquantel86]

Am attending UB as a P-1 this Fall...

I'm curious as to how the students fit these IPPE hours into their academic schedules? Do most simply fulfill the bulk of the 300-hour requirement on the weekends? I'm stoked about being a part of the program, and would like to hear some of your experiences in it thus far - anything pertinent you could share that won't be explained during orientation (i.e. off-campus housing tips)?

Your class will have an easier time with the IPPE hours at UB. As one of the Quiksilver mentioned, we're something of the crash-test dummies. As far as I understand it, your class will have a slot during the week allotted for rotation hours. I've enjoyed many of the experiences that I was able to schedule for myself, I was exposed to a lot of things that I wouldn't have had a chance to see otherwise.

As far as other pertinent information goes, I have a few things that might help:


- Take advantage of Buffalo. There's something to do for everyone, even if you have to dig around a little bit to find it. It really is a great city, so go out and explore.

- Don't condemn yourself to a life of studying. There will be some times that you need to crack down and get out, but most of the time you're just fooling yourself. Studying an extra four hours on a Saturday night for a test in three weeks isn't worth losing a chance to cut back and relax with your friends.

- Get involved in the school. They actually will drive this point home (ad nauseum) during the orientation, but it's something you should consider. It's a great way to get to know people, students and faculty alike. You never know when involvement might turn around and get you a job.

- As far as off-campus housing goes, try to live as close to North Campus as possible. Areas down towards the South Campus (where a lot of undergrads live) tend to get a little shady. Plus, it's an easier commute.

Looking forward to seeing you here next fall!

 

[xinduetimex]

Thanks to you both for the info - my name's Nik; hope to see your guys around campus at some point. Best of luck with your current and future endeavors!

 

[NormalSaline]

The IPPE hours are a complete cluster F at my school. We are not allowed to be paid for them and can ONLY complete them when school is not in session.

The worst part though, is that we are the only class that is doing them unpaid.

 

[Praziquantel86]

The worst part though, is that we are the only class that is doing them unpaid.

That's part of the ACPE guidelines, no one can get paid for IPPE hours. Before IPPE's were mandatory, it wasn't uncommon for schools to require paid externships, those might be the people you see getting paid.

 

[NormalSaline]

That's part of the ACPE guidelines, no one can get paid for IPPE hours. Before IPPE's were mandatory, it wasn't uncommon for schools to require paid externships, those might be the people you see getting paid.

The class ahead of me and (to the best of my knowledge) the class behind me, both are paid for their IPPE hours

 

[Praziquantel86]

The class ahead of me and (to the best of my knowledge) the class behind me, both are paid for their IPPE hours

They're in violation of the ACPE guidelines then.

From the June 2008 meeting of the IPPE/APPE Board:

"Students must not receive remuneration for any pharmacy practice experiences for which academic credit is assigned" (Their bolding/underline)

If students are getting paid for their IPPE hours, I'd be worried about getting put on probation.

 

[Quiksilver]

Thanks to you both for the info - my name's Nik; hope to see your guys around campus at some point. Best of luck with your current and future endeavors!

thanks and you too. The best thing you can do is make friends and share resources. Its a long haul, no sense in being competitive with everyone. Enjoy your classmates company and go out every now and then. You will get buried no matter what you do, so enjoy any time you have.

 

[twester]

Not only did our hours double last semester, but the gigantic writing assignment did not get scaled back. We are expected to write a 6000+ word paper this semester describing our development of competency. Competency statements are automatically rejected (in a completely artificial manner) so we can deepen our "reflection" of the experience.

Mandatory reflection=BS

 

[Quiksilver]

Not only did our hours double last semester, but the gigantic writing assignment did not get scaled back. We are expected to write a 6000+ word paper this semester describing our development of competency. Competency statements are automatically rejected (in a completely artificial manner) so we can deepen our "reflection" of the experience.

Mandatory reflection=BS

geez thats better then the dear diary stuff we have to do

i want to write one that goes along the lines of deep thoughts by jack handy:

"I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat." It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then all of the sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man those ducks really take off! Also Baby Duck Hat is good for parties."
- deep thoughts by jack handy