COPHS Experiential Education
Experiential Education is the practice component of our curriculums. Its goal is to enhance development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of our students—in tandem with didactic education—to develop practice-ready, compassionate, and innovative healthcare leaders.
Experiential education benefits both students and preceptors. Students gain practical skills and exposure to practice settings. Preceptors serve as mentors and our high-quality students make experiential education a rewarding experience for everyone.
Pharmacy Program Experiences
Curriculum
Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) represent the first experiential learning opportunities for Butler University PharmD students. The IPPE are incorporated into the early phases of the professional curriculum and are designed to expose students to the common contemporary pharmacy practice models and to facilitate the development of knowledge application and clinical reasoning skills in preparation for the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE).
Butler PharmD students are required to successfully complete two 160-hour IPPE rotations prior to commencing APPE rotations.
Community IPPE
The Community IPPE is a 160 hour on-site rotation conducted in a community or retail pharmacy practice setting. The Community IPPE is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of community pharmacy practice and engages students in learning opportunities to enhance technical, clinical, and professional knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes. Community IPPE rotations introduce students to interprofessional practice involving shared patient care decision-making, professional ethics and expected behaviors, and direct patient care activities.
The Community IPPE takes place following the completion of the first professional (P1) year. Students are assigned a Community IPPE rotation block by the Experiential Education Office. All Community IPPE rotations take place during summer rotation blocks one through four which take place May through August.
Institutional IPPE
The Institutional IPPE is a 160 hour on-site rotation conducted in a hospital or institutional pharmacy practice setting. The Institutional IPPE is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of inpatient pharmacy practice and engages students in learning opportunities to enhance technical, clinical, and professional knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes. Institutional IPPE rotations introduce students to interprofessional practice involving shared patient care decision-making, professional ethics and expected behaviors, and direct patient care activities.
The Institutional IPPE takes place following the successful completion of the second professional (P2) year. Students are assigned an Institutional IPPE rotation block by the Experiential Education Office.
In addition to the traditional 4-week summer rotation blocks one through four, longitudinal IPPE rotation blocks are available for the Institutional IPPE. Longitudinal Institutional IPPE rotations are conducted over five to six months during the summer-to-fall or fall-to-spring rotation blocks. Longitudinal rotation schedules involve a small number of weekday rotation experiences but primarily consist of weekend experiences.
Schedules
2025 Summer
- Block 1: May 12 – June 6, 2025
- Block 2: June 9 – July 4, 2025
- Block 3: July 7 – Aug 1, 2025
- Block 4: Aug 4 – Aug 29, 2025
2026 Summer
- Block 1: May 11 – June 5, 2026
- Block 2: June 8 – July 3, 2026
- Block 3: July 6 – July 31, 2026
- Block 4: August 3 – Aug 28, 2026
Grading
IPPE will be graded on a pass or fail basis. The assessment scale is displayed in the table below. The student must “meet expectations” on all learning objectives before advancement to Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE). Students who do not “meet” learning objectives will be required to develop a plan to meet any of the unmet learning objectives with the assistance of a preceptor, faculty, and/or the Experiential Education Office. This may require additional classroom or site-based activities.
IPPE Assessment
| Score | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Needs Improvement | The student performs at a level below where they should be at this point in their pharmacy education (1 year of didactic curriculum for community IPPE and 2 years for institutional IPPE). The student does not display professional attributes or attitudes consistent with a readiness to enter general practice. |
| Meets Expectations | The student performs at a level consistent with expectations or at least is displaying developing habits, skills, abilities, and/ or knowledge in areas that are improving and/ or requiring further development. |
| Not Applicable | Student not assessed because competency was not applicable at site. |
Curriculum
The purpose of the Advanced Practice Experiences (APPE) is to allow students to demonstrate acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes in a professional setting. Students are required to complete and pass all the practice experiences in order to qualify for graduation.
Rotation Requirements
General Requirements
Ten 4-week rotations (160 hours/rotations) are required. The ten rotations consist of the following:
- 1 General Medicine
- 1 Acute Care Inpatient
- 1 Hospital/Health System
- 1 Ambulatory Care
- 2 Community Practice
- 2 Patient Care elective (in-patient or out-patient)
- 2 Elective rotations (patient care or non-patient care)
Medical Spanish Concentration
Same requirements as above.
One patient care elective will be at an underserved site that is Spanish-speaking (i.e. Alivio clinic, Shalom, Timmy Foundation Trip)
Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Concentration and Patient Care Research Concentration
- 3 Pharmaceutical Sciences Research or Patient Care Research
- 1 General Medicine
- 1 Acute Care Inpatient
- 1 Hospital/Health System
- 1 Ambulatory Care
- 2 Community Practice
- 1 Elective rotations (For Pharmaceutical Research Concentration, must be patient care)
PharmD/MBA
- 1 General Medicine Rotation
- 2 Acute Care Inpatient
- 2 Community Pharmacy Rotation
- 1 Ambulatory Care Rotation
- 2 Administrative/Management Rotations (can be in hospital, community, managed care, or industry)
- 2 Patient Care Elective Rotations
Currently Offered Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences
- RX 650—Academic Experience
- RX 651—Administration, Law, and Management
- RX 652—Advanced Ambulatory Care*
- RX 655—Compounding**
- RX 656—Alternative and Complementary Medicine*
- RX 657—Ambulatory Care*
- RX 658—Cardiology*
- RX 660—Clinical Research
- RX 661—Community Practice*
- RX 662—Critical Care*
- RX 664—Drug Information
- RX 665—Emergency Medicine and Trauma*
- RX 666—General Medicine*
- RX 667—Geriatrics*
- RX 670—Home Healthcare*
- RX 671—Industrial Pharmacy
- RX 672—Infectious Disease*
- RX 674—Long Term Care**
- RX 675—Managed Care/Health Policy**
- RX 677—Neurology*
- RX 678—Nutrition Support*
- RX 679—Oncology*
- RX 680—Pharmaceutical Sciences Research
- RX 681—Neonatology*
- RX 682—Pediatrics*
- RX 686—Pharmacy Systems and Technology
- RX 687—Poison Control and Toxicology**
- RX 688—Pulmonary*
- RX 690—Psychiatry and Neuropsychology*
- RX 691—Radiopharmaceuticals**
- RX 692—Underserved Clinic Experience*
- RX 693—State Board/Associations of Pharmacy
- RX 694—Surgery*
- RX 695—Transplantatin*
- RX 696—Women’s Health*
- RX 699—Special Topics/ Elective in Pharmacy Practice**
*denotes direct patient care rotation
**denotes either direct patient care or non-patient care rotation, depending on assigned site
Schedule
2024-2025 Academic Year
- Block 1: May 6 – May 31, 2024
- Block 2: June 3 – June 28, 2024
- Block 3: July 1 – July 26, 2024
- Block 4: July 29 – Aug 23, 2024
- Block 5: Aug 26 – Sept 20, 2024
- Block 6: Sept 23 – Oct 18, 2024
- Block 7: Oct 21 – Nov 15, 2024
- Block 8: Nov 18 – Dec 13, 2024
- Block 9: Jan 6 – Jan 31, 2025
- Block 10: Feb 3 – Feb 28, 2025
- Block 11: March 3 – March 28, 2025
- Block 12: March 31 – April 25, 2025
2025-2026 Academic Year
- Block 1: May 12 – June 6, 2025
- Block 2: June 9 – July 4, 2025
- Block 3: July 7 – Aug 1, 2025
- Block 4: Aug 4 – Aug 29, 2025
- Block 5: Sept 1 – Sept 26, 2025
- Block 6: Sept 29 – Oct 24, 2025
- Block 7: Oct 27 – Nov 21, 2025
- Block 8: Dec 1 – Dec 26, 2025
- Block 9: Jan 5 – Jan 30, 2026
- Block 10: February 2 – Feb 27, 2026
- Block 11: March 2 – March 27, 2026
- Block 12: March 30 – April 24, 2026
Student Evaluation Scales
Professionalism and Work Ethics
- Students performance on items in this section will be evaluated with the following grading scale: (C) Consistently, (I) Inconsistently, (N) Never
- Comments are required for any scores of “inconsistently” or “never.”
Entrustable Professional Activities
- Students will be evaluated on items in this section using the grading scale below. Comments are required for any scores of “below expectations” or “fail.”
| Score | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Exceeds Expectations | Ready for supervision at a distance. I trust the learner to completely and accurately… |
| Meets Expectations | Ready for reactive supervision. I trust the learner, with limited correction, to… |
| Below Expectations | Ready for direct, proactive supervision. Learner requires direct supervision and frequent correction, to… |
| Fail | I do not trust the learner to… |
Overall Assessment
Pass
- Performs at a level consistent with expectations or at least is displaying developing habits, skills, abilities, and/or knowledge areas that are improving.
- Demonstrates consistent professionalism and communicates effectively with preceptor and other health care professionals.
Fail
- Breaches patient confidentiality or violates policies of the site.
- Did not meet requirements and expectations outlined by the preceptor.
- Displays skills, abilities, and/or knowledge areas that require significant improvement and are a concern for patient care.
- Professional behavior is inappropriate and/or unethical (e.g. exceeds absences allowed, inappropriate language or communication).
Physician Assistant Program Experiences
The second phase of the of the PA Program’s curriculum is the clinical year. This phase consists of 53 credit hours in a trimester format. There are seven core specialty areas and one elective. The seven core clinical rotations are:
- Community Mental Health
- Emergency Medicine*
- Family Medicine*
- Surgery
- Internal Medicine*
- Pediatrics
- Women’s Health
* Contains two rotations (total of 8 weeks).
Additionally, students will have the opportunity to participate in clinical experiences with other health care professionals over the course of their clinical year. This exposure to interprofessional education will allow students to learn from, with and about other members of the healthcare team.
Students will be assigned rotations in a circumference from campus within the Indianapolis area. All attempts are made to be within two hours of campus.
Students who are in good standing may be allowed to complete distant rotations. Students may locate a distant rotation site of their choice. The program will assess the educational appropriateness of the site and secure all necessary paperwork.
For detailed information about becoming a preceptor please visit PA Preceptor Information.
Below is the sample schedule of the formal curriculum for the clinical year. The timing of the rotations will be different for each student; however, all students will complete all items prior to graduation.
Summer (Clinical)
| Community Mental Health Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Core Topics I | 1 credit hours |
| Emergency Medicine I Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Internal Medicine I Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Total Credit Hours | 13 credit hours |
Fall (Clinical)
| Core Topics II | 2 credit hours |
| Family Medicine I Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Issues in Professional Practice | 2 credit hours |
| Internal Medicine II Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Pediatrics Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Women’s Health Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Total Credit Hours | 20 credit hours |
Spring (Clinical)
| Core Topics III | 2 credit hours |
| Elective Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Emergency Medicine II Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Family Medicine II Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Surgery Rotation | 4 credit hours |
| Inter-professional Experience | 1 credit hour |
| Summative Practicum | 1 credit hour |
| Total Credit Hours | 20 credit hours |