Degree Requirement

Applicants to the master's program must hold a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) or the equivalent.

Curriculum

The core curriculum for the MS in pharmaceutical sciences program with a specialization in health-system pharmacy administration will consist of course work in advanced topics with human resource management, health systems financial management, medication safety and quality improvement, health-system pharmacy operations and much more.

Click here to see the list of courses.

Supervised Project in Health System Pharmacy

Graduate students will be encouraged to develop extensive skills and expertise in specific segments of pharmacy administration that are of personal interest. The chosen areas of interest will be emphasized throughout both the didactic and experiential portions of the program over the two years of study with the guidance of their mentor and academic and experiential program advisers. Students will take a minimum of four credit hours of Supervised Project in Health-System Pharmacy during their second year to accomplish the project objectives, which is a requirement for the master of science. This project will serve in lieu of a master’s thesis.

Final Written Comprehensive Examination

A comprehensive examination will be administered to all graduate students before the completion of the last semester of their program. The examination is intended to validate students' ability to apply the knowledge and experience gained throughout the program in coursework and experiential components of their education and training.

Practice/Administrative Residency Requirements

Graduate students in this curriculum will be accepted into a two-year residency program to be completed simultaneously with coursework and related program requirements for the MS degree. Over the two-year duration of the program residents will complete the learning objectives of both PGY1 and PGY2 residency programs.  Rotations will include the essential elements for a pharmacy practice residency to ensure competence as a qualified caregiver is achieved, but elective rotations will be planned based on the experience, needs and preferences of the graduate student as well as the sponsoring organization.

Residency programs include the following core training components:

Clinical Experience
Maintenance of clinical competence during the graduate experience is essential to meeting the competency expectations of the graduate students. Students and sponsoring organizations will have considerable flexibility in pursuing clinical experiences throughout the first and second years based on the needs and career aspirations of the graduate student.

Leadership/Administrative Experience
The majority of the second year will be dedicated to experiential learning and practical application of knowledge and experiences of the first year. During this year the graduate student develops expertise in departmental leadership and administration, quality improvement and patient safety, automation and informatics as it applies to pharmacy services, policy development, interdepartmental relationships and collaboration, human resource management, and current trends in the profession of pharmacy. Additional experiences may be acquired related to association management (NCAP) and regulatory governing organizations (NCBOP, NC Medicaid).