Pharmacy Practice

These courses provide an opportunity for students to work with individual faculty mentors on research projects of variable scope that are intended to lead to publication, an abstract or a poster. All special projects/research require the approval of the appropriate department chair and Dean.

These courses provide an opportunity for students to work with individual faculty mentors on research projects of variable scope that are intended to lead to publication, an abstract or a poster. All special projects/research require the approval of the appropriate department chair and Dean.

Through active participation in lecture discussions and workshops, the student will be prepared to implement health screening programs in pharmacy practice settings. The course focuses on risk factor assessment and hands-on experience with screening devices for cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. The course also addresses regulatory requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and development of policies and procedures for screening programs.

This course is designed to introduce the pharmacy student to the history of pharmacy. This will be accomplished by focusing upon the historical development of pharmacy in the United States by examining the growth and professionalization of the field, its statutory regulation and its product development. Students will be able to apply the lessons of history to current and future practice philosophies.

This elective emphasizes the knowledge and skills required for the delivery of diabetes education by focusing on the patient’s perspective in the management of the disease. The course builds on the material presented in required courses in the curriculum by examining the barriers faced by patients during self-management and potential solutions for addressing them.

The objective of this course is to introduce the tools needed to financially succeed after graduation. The class will focus on introduction to the areas of taxes, planning for retirement, investing, debt consolidation, home ownership, money management, and insurance.

This course is designed to provide an overview of common diseases and symptoms encountered in terminal patients. Emphasis will be placed on the appropriate selection of medications to palliate symptoms such as pain, dyspnea, excess secretions, constipation, diarrhea, hiccups, pruritus, etc. Common diseases include but are not limited to: breast, brain, lung, colon and renal cancers; COPD; dementia; and CHF. Patient cases will be used during each session to illustrate symptom management issues.

Upon completion of this course students will understand how to assess pain; understand the differences between addiction, dependence and tolerance; be able to recommend appropriate medication therapies for nociceptive and neuropathic pain; understand the reasons for the multitude of available analgesic choices; understand the role of complementary and alternative medicine; and be conversant with the legal and ethical issues of pain management.

This course provides a forum for students to learn how to manage patients with rare and interesting disease states. The pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic tests or procedures, treatment and the pharmacist’s role in the management for each disease state/genetic abnormality/adverse drug event will be reviewed. Activities will simulate patient work up and written/oral presentations in clinical practice.

This course provides the student an overview of the various aspects of nuclear pharmacy. This includes basic nuclear physics, radiation measurement and safety, regulatory considerations, radiopharmaceutical preparation, products, quality control, and imaging modalities.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of advanced topics in women’s health particularly related to reproductive health. Expanded information in topics such as contraception, infertility, drug use in pregnancy, and mood disorders related to pregnancy are provided. The course utilizes various teaching methods including lectures, case studies, readings, assignments, and discussions. Students will develop a working knowledge to aid them in caring for women with gender-related disease states.

This course teaches the skills necessary to become a primary source for vaccine information and administration. It teaches the basics of immunology and focuses on practice implementation and legal/regulatory issues. Students must complete 12 hours of self-study prior to the class and must submit the completed material upon arrival to class.

This course provides an overview of dentistry and its relation to healthcare. Discussion includes questions that pharmacists often are asked regarding oral lesions, injuries to the oral cavity, and efficacy of OTC remedies. Information about various dental specialties will help the pharmacist refer their patients to the appropriate specialist. Misuse and abuse of dental drugs and medications and investigation and enforcement of dental regulations concerning dmg abuse will be discussed.

This elective course provides students with an overview of the major nutritional problems in the United States with emphasis on lifestyle modification and counseling that can be done for each disease state or topic. Topics include obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sport enhancement. This course utilizes a team based learning method with assessment being based on team and individual quiz and exam scores. This is a student-centered learning course designed to begin the process of lifelong learning for students as healthcare professionals.

Post-graduate pharmacy residency programs are highly valuable and are becoming increasingly competitive. This elective course provides guidance on the residency selection decision process, curriculum vita (CV) development, creation of a strong letter of intent and interviewing skills. Students will learn and apply how to incorporate experiences from their didactic, experiential, and co-curricular education into their residency application and interview. To meet the learning objectives, students will complete interactive written and verbal activities to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities. Achievement of learning objectives will be evaluated by assessment rubrics tailored to each activity.

This course provides an in-depth review of postmenopausal women’s health issues. Through active participation in patient case studies and class discussion, students will learn to design pharmacotherapeutic plans to address symptoms of menopause during the menopause transition and to reduce risk factors for chronic medical conditions common during this life stage.

This elective course provides students with an in-depth review and expansion of knowledge regarding the management of medical pharmacotherapy in patients with acute cardiovascular issues, building upon concepts that were introduced in Integrated Sequence 4 and 5. The class is focused on application of knowledge to improve patient care. Learning techniques that will be utilized include lecture, discussion, formulation of a Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process (PPCP) for patient cases, evaluation of primary literature, and student debates.

This course focuses on the clinical aspects of nutritional support therapy for patients who cannot maintain adequate nutrition by the oral route. Clinical topics include indications, patient assessment, ordering, administering, monitoring, and adverse effects of both parenteral and enteral nutrition (PEN) support. Patient safety in hospital and home PEN, dmg shortages, and recent advances and research in PEN will be discussed.

This professional elective course is designed to use a book club/current topics format to provide the pharmacy student with an introduction to the art of patient care and the issues healthcare providers face regarding their own biases and stereotypes. The purpose of this course is to thoughtfully tackle some of the assumptions we make as health care providers and explore ways to be more thoughtful in our decisions and care of our patients.

This elective will develop the basic verbal and written skills required to effectively communicate with the Spanish speaking patient in the pharmacy setting. There will be a strong focus on patient interviewing skills and counseling on the most common topics seen in the community setting. This course assumes the student is already familiar with basic Spanish and therefore introductory level Spanish.

This elective that will provide an introduction to current therapies, management of patients and other operations requirements within specialties including Solid Organ Transplant/BMT, Oncology, Inflammatory (Rheumatology, Dermatology), and Infectious Disease (HIV and Hepatitis C). The course is composed of alternating disease state overview presentations with student case study presentations the following week for practical application.

This course focuses on the clinical aspects of the pharmaceutical care of patients with hematologic and oncologic diseases. Clinical topics include disease state management, supportive care, hospice/palliative care, management of drug shortages and literature evaluation.

This course introduces pharmacy students to health coaching principles in Pharmacy. It focuses on three main areas of health coaching: Patient Activation, Motivational Interviewing and Positive Psychology. Emphasis is placed on student participation, assignment completion, and practicing health coaching skills with their assigned class partners. The major topics covered are: basic health coaching tools, introduction to wellness model, the impact of health coaching on healthcare outcomes and care management. The main goal of the course is to develop an understanding of health coaching in pharmacy and its application in healthcare continuum.

This elective course will introduce students to the exciting and growing area of healthcare informatics. Healthcare informatics brings together healthcare generated information with technology for the purpose of improving quality of care in a cost effective and comprehensive manner. The course focuses on key concepts, including definitions, technological foundations, databases and information management, legal issues, project management, and potential career opportunities. The main goal of the course is to develop an understanding of informatics and the application in the healthcare field.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of managed care pharmacy and how it impacts the US healthcare system. The course prepares students to understand and learn about professional practice opportunities in managed care pharmacy by exploring: healthcare reform, managed healthcare delivery models, prescription benefit design, pharmacy networks, utilization management tools, P&T Committees, pharmacy data management, pharmacy benefit managers, specialty pharmacy and pharmaceutical manufacturers. In addition, the course focuses on how business principles are integrated into the managed care pharmacy department, and address how clinical pharmacy, quality improvement, medication therapy management/disease management programs are coordinated within the managed care pharmacy environment.

This course focuses on specific issues related to the treatment and care of pediatric patients. Clinical topics include common childhood illness and treatments as well as drug delivery systems used for pediatric patients, current controversies in pediatric pharmacotherapy, commonly used over the counter medications and alternative therapies used by pediatric patients. This course incorporates lectures, projects and reading assignments to enhance student learning about pediatric issues.

Evidence based medicine relies on quantitative information about which drugs and treatments are safe, efficacious, and/or cost effective. Generating and communicating the necessary quantitative evidence requires competent use of a statistical package. This course covers statistical applications in Excel and SPSS, a statistical package that is commonly used in healthcare settings. Topics include methods for reading in data, descriptives to explore and "clean" data, comparisons of groups using appropriate statistical testing procedures, project documentation for quality control and accuracy, creation of graphics, and regression using linear and exponential models. Both "drop-down" menus and essential programming syntax are covered. Focus is on practical methods, effective project management, and basic interpretive techniques to facilitate research projects for residency, fellowship, or employment. The course prepares students to engage and collaborate effectively with a healthcare team, using evidence-based, accurate analysis and clear communication about statistical results.

This course introduces students to current trends in Medication Therapy Management (MTM) with a particular focus on the provision of pharmacist’s services as an integral part of managing patient dmg therapy. Students will gain insight into the challenges and opportunities that are presented to pharmacists when they address drug therapy misadventures and perform comprehensive medication reviews for patients with complex drug regimes. Particular attention is focused on development of drug therapy intervention skills that will maximize the results achieved when patient interventions are performed. In addition, students learn basic information about how the online intervention process works. The course includes having students role play case study examples of both therapeutic interventions and comprehensive medication reviews.

This course is designed to enhance students’ knowledge and skills related to geriatric pharmacotherapy. The course provides an introduction to general principles of aging, roles of pharmacists in working with geriatric patients, and an overview of geriatric syndromes. The format of the course involves brief lectures, and students will be expected to actively participate in discussions and case-based assignments. There is an emphasis on managing the healthcare needs of patients with multiple comorbidities.

This course is designed to enhance the knowledge of future community pharmacists in the area of small animal veterinary pharmacology, dispensing of common small animal prescriptions, and recommendations of OTC medications for common household pets. Primary focus will be on cats and dogs. This course includes an on-site session with CVM Faculty at the MWU Companion Animal Clinic.

Functional Medicine is a systems-oriented and evidence-based approach that aims to treat the root cause of chronic diseases. It aims to optimize wellness and is the medicine of prevention. This course is designed to educate the pharmacy student about the basic principles of functional medicine and its approach to treating patients. This course explores the pathology of chronic conditions from a systems biology by diving deep into nutrition and supplementation, removal of toxins, and ways to heal the body for resolution of symptoms. This course is an interactive learning environment with group workshops and a final debate. At completion of the course students will be able to discuss functional medicine principles and apply functional medicine treatment plans to patient cases.

Given the complex and demanding environment of healthcare, effective leadership is often required to meet these challenges. This course is designed to provide the student with three foundational tools for actionable access to being who they need to be, to be a leader, and with what it takes to exercise leadership effectively in all aspects of their life. This course is a leadership laboratory in which the student will discover a new context for leader and leadership. Instead of more knowledge about leadership, the student will gain access to actually being a leader and effectively exercising leadership as a natural self-expression through in-class discussions, group work, out of class assignments, and a leadership project. During the course current thoughts on leadership will be challenged, new ways of thinking will emerge, and the student will leave with new actions to create even greater success in the areas of life and leadership that matter most to them.

This course is designed to introduce students to the possible illnesses and diseases encountered while traveling. The epidemiology, etiology, and pathophysiology of travel diseases will be covered. The focus of the course is on the vaccines used to prevent diseases, as well as the pharmacological methods used for the prevention and treatment of travel diseases and illnesses. Participants will discuss the role of health care professionals in assessing and counseling a patient for the appropriate prevention and treatment of those illnesses. The format of the course includes lectures and active participation in case-based discussions. Students will practice making recommendations for vaccines and counseling patients on both over the counter and prescription medications commonly used for traveling.

This elective course provides students with exposure to "Grand Rounds" where contemporary clinical content is taught utilizing patient cases. The presenters will be pharmacists in practice or in post-graduate training. Students will gain clinical knowledge and practice pearls on a potpourri of clinical topics and benefit from exposure to the "Grand Round" format, which is a common form of continuing education in practice. Students will also gain experience in providing constructive written feedback to near-peer presenters and insight regarding the difficulty in providing feedback that is clear and specific. This course will develop the student’s written communication skills which are a central element in the Pharmacist’s Patient Care Process (PPCP), as well as a vital component of personal and professional development. Additionally, this course will allow the students the opportunity to develop assessment, feedback, and self-awareness skills.

Students will develop advanced knowledge of mental health and mental illness as it relates to the practice of pharmacy in the clinical setting and define the role of pharmacists in providing mental healthcare.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

This course presents principles of law and public policy as they relate to pharmacy practice under federal, state and local regulations. Topics include general rules and regulations governing pharmacy practice, controlled substances, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and public policy.

This course is a service-learning experience in which students participate in activities that connect individual and community needs by interacting with different community leaders, identifying individual/community needs and resources. This course is a combination of service-learning and didactic activities during the quarter.

This course introduces several concepts including the patient’s perspective of health, illness, and patient-provider interactions, public health key concepts, educational assessment, and consultation related to medication use. The main goal of this course is to help students understand and think about healthcare through both the patient and population lens, as well as understanding their role as a healthcare provider. Sociological and psychological implications of living with chronic medical conditions are discussed. Students learn to consider how the patient feels and how they can impact both patient and population outcomes as health care professionals.

An overview of the organization, delivery and financing of medical and pharmaceutical care in the U.S. Particular emphasis is placed on the interdependent roles of pharmacists with other healthcare providers, and the key organizations and institutions that are involved in delivering pharmaceutical care to patients. Historical perspective is provided where it contributes to an understanding of contemporary practice.

This course will help students develop a foundation for future pharmacy practice. Based on class interest, students will explore various pharmacy career options through pharmacist interviews, guest speakers, and completion of the APhA Career Pathways Assessment. Students will begin to develop professional communication skills as they interview two pharmacists and one patient for a final paper, and use self-reflection to summarize the interview responses in a personal narrative. Students will also be provided with foundational knowledge in medical terminology, with two exams focusing solely on medical terminology. The final paper will serve as the final assessment of learning and integration.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

In daily pharmacy practice, pharmacists encounter a variety of behavioral and ethical issues related to interactions with patients, providers and healthcare organizations. This course presents the principles underlying the dynamics of these constantly changing interactions to help future pharmacists better understand, predict and ultimately change the nature of their interactions with patients, other providers and healthcare organizations. Future pharmacists who have mastered the concepts in this course will be better equipped to optimize the delivery of pharmaceutical care and ultimately achieve more positive patient outcomes

This course is designed as a survey of complementary and alternative medicine. Students will be introduced to the theory and practice of some of the more popular complementary/alternative therapies (such as dietary supplements, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, herbal medicine, etc.). The course will include the use of complementary/alternative medicine associated with common disease states. Students will have the opportunity to research and present a complementary/alternative treatment to the class.

This course introduces students to statistics and research design. The course covers basic methodological concepts, study designs, descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, computerized statistical testing resources, and data sources commonly used in published pharmaceutical and medical research. Basic epidemiological metrics and computations are presented as well as the development and evaluation of research protocols, survey research, database analyses, and clinical drug investigations.

This course is an introduction to management concepts, principles and techniques that are applied in contemporary pharmacy practice and healthcare administration. The course is organized into four broad areas of managerial activity and responsibility: financial management, marketing management, operations management with an emphasis on medication safety, and an introduction to pharmacoeconomics.

In this course, students will learn and apply skills that will improve their ability to practice evidence-based healthcare (EBHC). Students were introduced to the steps of practicing EBHC and learned about Step 1 (identify a clinical question) and Step 2 (find relevant literature) of practicing EBHC in previous courses. This course focuses on Step 3 (critically evaluate literature) and Step 4 (apply information to patients).

This experience focuses on developing advanced teamwork, communication and counseling skills among an interprofessional team of students. The course includes both in-class workshops and interprofessional team clinic sessions. Students will practice interprofessional teamwork skills with other healthcare professionals. Skills to be developed include conflict resolution, documentation, collaboration to improve the quality of patient care, shared therapeutic decision making, and direct patient care activities.

This experience provides an opportunity for students to participate in basic patient care and distribution services in a community or ambulatory care pharmacy practice setting. Pharmacy students, under the supervision of adjunct clinical faculty, gain experience in community pharmacy practice including the areas of professional communications, drug information retrieval, patient counseling on prescription, and OTC medications, medication distribution, extemporaneous products, and application of federal and state pharmacy laws.

This experience provides an opportunity for students to participate in basic patient care and distribution services in an institutional pharmacy practice setting. Pharmacy students, under the supervision of adjunct clinical faculty, gain experience in institutional pharmacy practice including the areas of professional and patient communications, drug information retrieval, medication distribution systems, sterile product preparation, interprofessional activities, and application of federal and state pharmacy laws.

This course integrates both the practice and patient care management of patients in the acute care (hospital and health-system) setting. Students will enhance their acute care knowledge through case-based lecture and clinical application in the corresponding Professional Skills Development course.

These courses integrate the skills needed to fulfill the professional responsibilities of pharmacy practice as they relate to patient-centered care and the patient care process. Principles taught in this course and the co-requisite courses will be utilized to provide the contextual framework for the skills considered.

This course focuses on the skills necessary for pharmacist-directed management of common ambulatory medical conditions involving the cardiac, pulmonary, and endocrine systems. The course builds upon the fundamental information provided in the Integrated Sequence through the incorporation of disease prevention strategies and medication therapy management principles into complex patient casework.

This course prepares students to engage in the classic functions of a human resource manager in the pharmacy practice setting including planning, organizing, decision making, staffing, leading or directing, communicating, motivating and evaluating. This course combines predesigned law room workshops and lecture series from MWU-CPG faculty and invited guest lectures including directors/chiefs of pharmacy, human resource managers and clinical managers.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This series of courses provides the student an opportunity to review pharmacy-related concepts and clinical reasoning skills to prepare them to be successful, competent pharmacists that are able to contribute meaningfully to the profession. Topics covered will systematically address the six NAPLEX® Competency Statements: Obtain, Interpret, or Assess Data, Medical, or Patient Information; Identify Drug Characteristics; Develop or Manage Treatment Plans; Perform Calculations; Compound, Dispense, or Administer Drugs, or Manage Delivery Systems; and Develop or Manage Practice or Medication-Use Systems to Ensure Safety and Quality.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the required APPE community course.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the required APPE acute care course.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the required APPE ambulatory care course.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the required APPE health system course.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the elective APPE patient care course.

This course will build upon the foundation of the introductory pharmacy practice experiences provided in the PS-2 year and the didactic curriculum. Under preceptor supervision, the student participates in the elective APPE non-patient care course. Only one APPE experience may be a non-patient care experience.