The PharmD is a four-year program, during which students must complete six semesters of coursework in the classroom and ten months of clinical-practice experiences. Students receive four hours of academic credit for each month of practice experience. The ten months of practice experience meet the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy experience requirement (1,500 hours) for the licensure examination.

During the practice experiences, which are coordinated through the Professional Experiential Program, students provide care under the close supervision of faculty and selected professionals known as preceptors. Preceptors show the students how to apply the knowledge they learned in the classroom to daily practice, assess the students’ progress, and contribute to their overall evaluation.

A typical timeline of a student’s progression in the PharmD program

First Professional Year (PY1)

The curriculum emphasizes the basic sciences that serve as an important foundation for patient care. These include: biochemistry, physiology, pharmaceutics, and pharmacodynamics. PY1 students are also introduced to the role of the pharmacist in health care through courses such as Introduction to Health Care Systems and Introduction to Pharmaceutical Care. Students also take part in Pharmaceutical Care Labs, where they build patient-care skills through hands-on activities. They will continue with PCL on a weekly basis until the spring of their third year.

PY2 Practice Experience

Typically in the July following the PY1 year

After successful completion of the PY1 coursework, students participate in an early hospital-practice experience. They are placed in community and hospital pharmacies (at least two weeks each), where they get early exposure to the philosophy and practice of the pharmacy profession. In each of the practice settings, students participate in direct delivery of comprehensive community and hospital pharmacy services.

Second Professional Year (PY2)

The curriculum transitions into intensive therapeutic instruction. Students learn about how common diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma are best managed with the appropriate use of medications. In addition, they learn how to evaluate the growing body of medical literature and how to dose and monitor medications based on individual characteristics such as weight and kidney and liver function.

PY3 Practice Experience

Typically in the May following the PY2 year

After the PY2 year, students will participate in an advanced practice experience in either a hospital or a community pharmacy in order to acquire additional practice skills and knowledge to begin practice in these settings.

Third Professional Year (PY3)

The curriculum continues therapeutics instruction with increasingly more complex cases. PY3 students learn how best to care for patients with different types of cancers and infectious diseases. Students choose elective coursework to complement their career choices with courses such as Ambulatory Care, Critical Care, Nuclear Pharmacy, Pediatrics, Alternative Therapies, Rural Health Care, and Epidemiology.

Fourth Professional Year (PY4)

The PY4 year emphasizes hands-on learning in real-world environments, and the PY4 practice experiences are designed to translate classroom learning into clinical application. During this year, students are primarily enrolled in clinical-practice experiences from August to November and from January to April. They practice in ambulatory-care and inpatient-care environments, learning how to apply their knowledge of drugs and how to use them safely and most effectively. Practice experiences are often interdisciplinary and focus on patient-care activities. They are not associated with significant drug distribution, dispensing, or management.

The practice experiences for the PY4 year are:

• Advanced Community or Advanced Hospital Pharmacy Practice Clerkship (one month)
• Inpatient Medicine (one month)
• Ambulatory Care (one month)
• Medicine Specialty (one month)
• Elective (four one-month practice experiences)

Based on interest and availability, one-month, elective, non-patient-focused practice experiences at sites such as the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or a research setting can be arranged.