Expanding experiential opportunities through patient care services: a focus on immunizations

A new set of standards, ACPE Standards 2007, adopted by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), required all pharmacy programs to include introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) to represent 5% of the curriculum and advance pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) to represent 25% of the curriculum. This required many pharmacy programs to revise their curriculum to meet these requirements. The challenge of satisfying the increased accreditation requirements along with the increased number of new pharmacy programs in the United States has resulted in increased competition for experiential sites. Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy utilized innovative immunization services to help meet the ACPE Standards 2007. Drake utilized P2 and P3 students who were trained to give immunizations in an IPPE patient care elective in order to help experiential sites in their immunization efforts. Senior pharmacy students at UAMS were involved in expanding APPE opportunities by developing immunization clinics and providing immunizations at their experiential sites. Both pharmacy programs were successful in expanding experiential opportunities by focusing on immunizations. Students, preceptors, and patients all benefit from utilizing student pharmacist at experiential sites to provide patient care services.