The primary goal of the Experiential Education program is to provide students with structured, practical and closely supervised, professional experiences that allow students to develop and apply skills from formal classroom instruction to better assess their future role as a competent pharmacist. Each student is expected to apply his or her basic science and clinical knowledge into the real setting under a preceptor’s guidance and instruction.
Advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE), or rotations, are exclusive to fourth-year pharmacy students as part of their experiential education. Most rotations are in Arkansas, with a select few outside the United States. College of Pharmacy students can choose from options in Taiwan, Thailand and Rome, Italy, for international rotations.
In total, students complete 9 APPEs for their final year of pharmacy school — one rotation each month, with at least 160 hours of work, for 9 months. These include one required rotation each for adult acute care, ambulatory care, community pharmacy and health-system administration. Other options include three rotations focused on patient care and two electives.
Our office uses CORE ELMS — the experiential learning management system to track students’ experiences throughout their academic careers. CORE allows us to manage student and preceptor placement, monitor evaluations and other reports, as well as track site requirements, immunizations, and certifications. In addition, we use the system as a tool to communicate with our students and preceptors.
The UAMS College of Pharmacy asks pharmacists to help educate the future generations of pharmacists by becoming preceptors. If you are interested in becoming a preceptor, please call or email:
