Focus and Mission
General Curriculum Design
Proposed Curriculum Schedule
Focus and Mission
The PCOM School of Pharmacy - Georgia Campus curriculum will emphasize patient-centered care, a model consistent with the applied emphasis of PCOM's graduate and medical programs. The program will also respond to the need for pharmacists in the nation, the state of Georgia, and the southeastern region.
The mission of the GA-PCOM PharmD program will be to educate caring, proactive pharmacists according to a model of patient-oriented practice termed patient-centered care, a practice of pharmacy in which the practitioner assumes responsibility for a patient's medication-related needs and is held accountable for this commitment. The program will educate pharmacists who prepare and provide drug products and assume responsibility for the rational use of drugs by contributing to the design, implementation, monitoring and modification of therapeutic plans that will achieve defined goals and improve therapeutic outcomes.
While preparing pharmacy practitioners will be the primary mission of the Doctor of Pharmacy program, the program will also provide an avenue by which students may explore a broad range of career opportunities. The program therefore aspires to foster interest in the creation of new knowledge to enhance patient health outcomes and quality of life and also to prepare students for further education.
The GA-PCOM School of Pharmacy will prepare generalist, entry-level pharmacists who are able to deliver high-quality pharmaceutical care. To achieve this mission, students must develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable them to competently: (a) Provide population-based and patient-specific pharmaceutical care, (b) manage and use resources of the health care system, and (c) promote health improvement, wellness, and disease prevention.
General Curriculum Design
The program will be configured in a curricular format in which students complete:
the pre-professional phase (3 or 4 years) of general education, biomedical and pre-pharmaceutical sciences instruction at undergraduate colleges
the last four years of pharmacy sciences and practice instruction at the GA-PCOM facility, as well as clinical experiences at clinical sites throughout Georgia and the southeast.
Each term is a 13 week, period, corresponding to the calendar used by the PCOM Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine programs in both Philadelphia and Georgia. The extension of coursework over the three terms each academic year provides the opportunity for the across-the-curriculum development of skills.
The curriculum is composed of courses in Biomedical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences, and Clinical Sciences. A number of elective courses will be available to allow students to enhance their knowledge of pharmacy related topics in specific areas. There are five Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) in which students are given exposure to pharmacy practices in a variety of different practice sites and begin their hands-on experiences. The final year of the program consists of the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE) in which students are required to complete 8 different rotations, each rotation consisting of 5 weeks in a particular pharmacy practice site.
Required rotations include
Medicine
Ambulatory Care
Hospital Practice
Community Practice
Elective rotations will include rotations such as (but not limited too)
Cardiology
Infectious Diseases
Pediatrics
Compounding Pharmacy
Pharmaceutical Industry Managed
This curriculum including the active learning skills development time is designed to develop the knowledge, professional skills, professional attitudes and values that are required for an entry level pharmacist.
Proposed PharmD Schedule
subject to change
| Fall |
Winter |
Spring |
| 1st Professional Year |
| Anatomy & Physiology..... |
3 |
| Anatomy Lab.................. |
1 |
| Pharmacy Communications............. |
2 |
| Health Care Systems...... |
2 |
| Introduction to Drugs...... |
3 |
| Introduction to Pharmacy |
1 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| Physiology & Pathophysiology I........... |
3 |
| Immunology/ Microbiology................... |
4 |
| Biochemistry.................. |
3 |
| Pharmaceutical Calculations................... |
2 |
| IPPE I*.......................... |
1 |
| Total credits: 13 | |
| Physiology & Pathophysiology II....... |
3 |
| Infectious Disease I..... |
3 |
| Pharmaceutics............. |
3 |
| Pharmaceutics Lab...... |
1 |
| OTC........................... |
2 |
| IPPE II....................... |
1 |
| Total credits: 13 | |
| 2nd Professional Year |
| Integrated Therapeutics |
4 |
| Infectious Disease II...... |
3 |
| Pharmacy Practice Lab I. |
1 |
| Biopharmaceutics I........ |
3 |
| IPPE III........................ |
1 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| Integrated Therapeutics |
4 |
| Pharmacokinetics........... |
3 |
| Pharmacy Practice.......... |
3 |
| Pharmacy Practice II...... |
1 |
| IPPE IV.......................... |
1 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| Integrated Therapeutics |
4 |
| Pharmacy Administration.............. |
3 |
| Biostatistics.................. |
2 |
| Elective........................ |
2 |
| Total credits: 11 | |
| 3rd Professional Year |
| Integrated Therapeutics |
4 |
| Drug Literature Evaluation..................... |
3 |
| Hospital Pharmacy......... |
3 |
| Pharmacy Practice Lab III................................ |
1 |
| Elective......................... |
2 |
| IPPE V** |
2 |
| Total credits: | |
| Integrated Therapeutics |
4 |
| Toxicology.................... |
3 |
| Pharmacoeconomics...... |
3 |
| Elective........................ |
2 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| Capstone Course.......... |
4 |
| Pharmacy Law & Ethics.. |
4 |
| Elective........................ |
2 |
| Seminar....................... |
0 |
| Total credits: 10 | |
| 4th Professional Year*** |
| APPE I.......................... |
4 |
| APPE II......................... |
4 |
| APPE III........................ |
4 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| APPE IV......................... |
4 |
| APPE V.......................... |
4 |
| APPE VI......................... |
4 |
| Total credits: 12 | |
| APPE VII....................... |
4 |
| APPE VIII...................... |
4 |
| Total credits: 8 | |
* Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience
** IPPE V is scheduled during the Summer term following the 2nd Professional year
*** Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) is scheduled from the Summer term following the 3rd Professional year through the Spring term of the 4th Professional year for a total of 32 credits |
