Year 1 of the Curriculum – Course Work

Pharmacy Practice I

An introductory foundation to the profession of pharmacy based on OTC medications, alternative therapies, patient assessment and counseling skills, point-of-care testing, parenteral therapy preparation, pharmaceutical calculations and prescription practice.

Concepts in Pharmacy Practice

An introduction to the profession of pharmacy. Students will be exposed to pharmacy practice leaders from community practice, institutional practice, HMO and managed care, biotechnology and clinical research.

Law & Ethics

Law and ethics of pharmacy practice, including: key drug and pharmacy laws; the nature and scope of pharmacist practice, drug manufacturing, compounding, preparation, dispensing, and record-keeping, the role of various government agencies; potential bases for discipline or other liability; licensure requirements.

Study Design and Biostatistics I

Students attain critical appraisal skills and learn statistical concepts for biomedical literature necessary for clinical decision making. Elements of hypothesis, p values, power, significance, populations, procedures, methods, validity, ethics, execution, analysis and reporting are presented.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry I 

First of a two-part series that includes a survey of the chemistry of drug molecules and a computational laboratory. Topics will include the relationship between size and absorption, functional group chemistry, conformational flexibility and polypeptides and their mimetics. The course also focuses on a thorough and rigorous treatment of the basic principles of thermodynamics and chemical kinetics of molecular reactions.

Pharmacy Practice II

Second of a three-part series continuing the introduction to the profession of pharmacy.

Introduction to Health Care Systems and Policy

Students are introduced to the organization, financing and delivery of health care services in the United States. Using access to prescription drugs as one framework, the relationship of providers, patients, payers, producers, purchasers and policy makers will be analyzed as a critical review of the systems assets and liabilities. In addition, discussions will include other comparisons of other national health policies and current United States health policy issues and controversies.

Study Design and Biostatistics II

Students attain critical appraisal skills and learn statistical concepts for biomedical literature necessary for clinical decision making. Elements of hypothesis, p values, power, significance, populations, procedures, methods, validity, ethics, execution, analysis and reporting are presented.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry II 

Second of a two-part series to include a survey of the ways in which macromolecules interact with drugs. Topics will include enzyme kinetics and inhibition, kinases and phosphatases and drug metabolism, the kinetics of drug resistance and metabolism, and the consequences of metabolic induction.

Pharmaceutics I

This course presents an understanding of the basic fundamentals of biopharmaceutics and clinical pharmacokinetics including the major physical, chemical, and biological factors that influence systemic availability of drugs from their dosage forms and rates of drug absorption distribution, metabolism, and excretion in humans.  Topics included are rates and extent of absorption, gastrointestinal transit and physiologic considerations, membrane transport, first pass effects, parenteral and oral absorption, dissolution, bioequivalence, immediate and modified release, drug clearance, volume of distribution, and elimination of half-life.  Emphasis will be placed on understanding pharmacokinetics in the normal state and will also use examples of change in pharmacokinetic parameters due to drug interactions, concurrent diseases and genetic differences.

Pharmacy Practice III

Third of a three-part series continuing the introduction to the profession of pharmacy.

Pharmacy Informatics

Students will be provided with fundamental skills in pharmacy information technologies and their impact on the practice of pharmacy.

Pharmaceutics II

This course complements Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics and presents a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles necessary to administer therapeutic agents.  This includes review of the chemical, physical chemical and physiologic barriers necessary for drug delivery, the vehicle for drug delivery, systems used for drug delivery, routes of administration, standards for formulation, FDA regulations, testing standards, expiration standards and labeling.

Anatomy for Pharmacists

This course teaches human anatomy for professional pharmacists, focusing on structures and concepts that are most relevant to the following:

Literacy in common clinical terminology Foundational anatomy and physiology of all major body systems

The course explores human anatomy on multiple levels:  Grossly observable structures, microscopic structures (histology), clinical imaging, and patient cases.

• Anatomic sites of drug activity
• Anatomic basis for common pathological states, medical interventions, and clinical problem solving
• Pharmacy practice, including drug administration and monitoring techniques

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE)

Students are expected to engage in IPPEs in the areas of community pharmacy, institutional health-system pharmacy, health-related service learning, and simulated activities during the first three years of the pharmacy curriculum. These experiences are intended to serve as a bridge between didactic courses and fourth-year Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE). Students must complete 300 IPPE hours by the end of the Winter Quarter of the P3 year in order to progress to fourth-year APPEs.

Co-Curricular Program

The Co-Curricular Program organizes and documents the learning environment outside the classroom to focus on activities that are student-centered, learning-focused, and intentional. The goal is to promote high-quality co-curricular activities across the student experiences that build competencies to prepare student pharmacists to be practice-ready and team-ready.

Pharm.D. Required Student Research Project

Completing a research project is required of all students and is a prerequisite for graduation. Students are encouraged to consider potential projects beginning in their first year. Students may complete their research project in any academic year. For Pharm.D./Ph.D. program students, completion of the Ph.D. thesis project will satisfy this graduation project requirement.