A Variety of the Profession

Loma Linda University Medical Center provides School of Pharmacy students with a complete clinical experience inside the pharmacy profession.

By Stephen Vodhanel, PhD

As soon as students enter the school of pharmacy, experiential education at the Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) plays an important part of their learning. Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE/APPE) generally are the student’s first look into the many facets of the pharmacy profession, and the rich learning environments of clinical experiences at LLUMC often exposes students with future career options.   

For Ashlyn Davies, the pharmacy clinical rotations at LLUMC have provided a rich and important variety of experiences across the entire spectrum of the pharmacy profession. It is this clinical experience provided by LLUMC that is helping shape Davies’ future direction in the pharmacy profession.     

“The LLUMC experience is forming the mold of what type of pharmacist I’m going to be. They offer so much to you, things we don’t see in the classroom. As a student in IPPE/APPE, you see just how much experienced pharmacists really know and how far, as a student I have to go, and where my future interests might be,” said Davies.

The clinical experience provided by LLUMC extends far beyond patient care and drug knowledge also by immersing students into the administrative responsibilities of clinical hospital practice. “The LLUMC experience has much administrative experience…policy…monitoring…responsibility management. Ins and outs of hospital work…the business end more than I expected. The agencies and what they expect. But it’s the hospital’s action type meetings where policies and procedures, current issues, new drugs to formulary, all the ideas finally come together, is a learning experience we can’t get in the classroom,” said Davies.

By having a close working relationship with LLUMC, the school of pharmacy clinical experiences offered to students is as top-notch as any in the nation. “Students enter the Doctor of Pharmacy program with a narrow view of what opportunities are available to them as licensed pharmacists. Through hands-on experience in real-world settings, students come to appreciate the breadth of opportunities that the profession provides. We are fortunate to have a facility like LLUMC available to help open their eyes to the impact that pharmacists can have on the patients they serve,” said Dr. Nancy Kawahara, Associate Dean of Assessment and Professional Affairs, School of Pharmacy.

PY3 student Ashlyn Davies on site at the LLUMC clinical pharmacy.