Planning for Rotations
The experiential courses are referred to as Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs), preceptorships, rotations, or clerkships. You are eligible to begin APPEs once you have completed at least four ADSM courses, including the ADSM course(s) most relevant to the planned rotation. You must also complete Advanced Drug Literature and Instructional Methods before starting any prospective rotations (effective 1/07).
For example, in order to enroll in an oncology preceptorship, you must have successfully completed ADSM IV (which includes the oncology course work), at least three other ADSM courses, Advanced Drug Literature, and Instructional Methods. The experiential courses can be accomplished by performing all preceptorships prospectively, or by a combination of performing some and challenging some for academic credit, based on your pharmacy practice experiences.
Note that all students must perform at least two rotations prospectively; credit by challenge can be applied to no more than four rotations.
Course numbers for established preceptorships are listed in the Table of Course ID Numbers. All preceptorships must be approved by the Coordinator for Experiential Education before we will register a student for one of these experiences.
Required Rotations
The three required practice areas are:
- Acute Care Medicine
- Ambulatory Care
- Drug Information
You must either perform these rotations or successfully challenge them for academic credit.
Students are strongly encouraged to do the drug information preceptorship first because it will help hone literature searching and evaluation skills which are essential to subsequent patient care rotations.
Step 1. Determine which, if any, rotations you may be able to challenge.
You can start planning for rotations and receiving credit by challenge at any point in the program. It is best to determine which experiences you can challenge before doing prospective rotations. To get started thinking about the rotations you may challenge, review the Credit-by-Challenge Process. Once you have reviewed the materials, prepare a brief summary of your pharmacy practice experiences over the past 5-10 years. E-mail this information along with your CV or resume to Monika Nuffer. She will use the information you have prepared to assign a credit-by-challenge advisor. The information you provide will also form the basis for discussing your needs and options with your credit-by-challenge advisor and NTPD personnel.
Step 2. Contact the NTPD office to request help finding rotation sites.
Personnel from the Office of Experiential Programs at the School of Pharmacy or the NTPD program can assist you in locating sites and preceptors to meet your needs for performing preceptorships, and they can work with potential preceptors to ensure that required criteria are met and paperwork accomplished.
Please note that if your desired rotation site is in Colorado, Greg Lee in the Office of Experiential Programs can assist you in finding a site; if your rotation site is outside of Colorado, your rotation will be arranged through the NTPD office. The NTPD office approves sites, preceptors, and scheduling and MUST approve all rotations before you register for, or begin, a rotation.
To request help in locating sites and to receive approval for rotation sites/preceptors, complete the NTPD Rotation Request Form and submit it along with a copy of your CV or resume to Pam Duval. This formal request will begin the process in the NTPD office to plan for your rotations. Due to the greatly increased volume of students beginning rotations, you should submit this form at least ONE FULL SEMESTER PRIOR to when you want to start your first rotation. If your formal request is not received by the beginning of the semester PRIOR to when you want to start on your first rotation, we cannot guarantee you will be able to start as planned.
Month in which you desire to start rotations |
Month your rotation request form and CV/resume are due |
January-May |
Preceding August |
June-August |
Preceding January |
September-December |
Preceding May |
Step 3. Complete the items on the Pre-rotation Checklist.
To be eligible to start rotations, ALL items on the Pre-rotation Checklist must be complete and documentation turned into the NTPD office. Rotation requirements are set by the University of Colorado Dever and are not negotiable. They often can take significant time to complete, so please plan ahead. Contact Pam Duval in the NTPD office with questions regarding this list.
Please realize also that students must possess a current pharmacy license in the state where rotations will be completed. The only exception to this rule is if the rotation will be completed at a Veterans Affairs facility. These facilities are considered federal territory and thus do not require pharmacists to reciprocate their licenses. If a student is doing a rotation outside of their usual state of licensure (and the rotation is not at a VA institution), one must do one of the following: obtain an intern license in that other state (if allowed by that state) or reciprocate your license to that other state. Significant advance planning is needed for such rotations as it can take weeks to obtain an intern license and months to reciprocate a pharmacy license.
Colorado is one of the few states that allows pharmacists from other states to operate on rotations with an intern license rather than reciprocating. Other states are not as lenient. So if you plan to do rotations outside of the state you are currently in, you will need to investigate what you will be required to do in regard to licensure status.
Step 4. Registering for Rotations
Once an APPE course has been set up for you, contact Pam Duval to be manually registered, as there is no online registration available for rotations. Please supply the following information to Pam: your name, student ID number, type of rotation, course number (PRDO XXXX), date you plan to begin and end the rotation, institution name and address, name and contact information of the preceptor. You may not begin any rotation until you are registered. You will be billed for 5 credit hours of tuition and a $110 clerkship fee for each rotation that you perform. Also, the academic support fee applies to semesters in which you are enrolled in experiential courses (preceptorships or credit-by-challenge submissions).