University of Georgia

The University of Georgia College of Pharmacy offers the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree to students who successfully complete the study of prescribed courses. The first two or three years (pre-pharmacy/prerequisite coursework) may be completed at any accredited institution of higher education. The last four years (10 semesters) are in the professional program and must be in residence at the College of Pharmacy. In order to receive the Pharm.D. degree, a student must have earned academic credit for not less than 69 semester hours in pre-pharmacy coursework and 148 semester hours of required professional coursework.
The four-year professional program integrates classroom, laboratory, and experiential training, with each of the first three years focusing on a specific theme: first year – “Pharmacists are patient-centered’; second year – “Pharmacists are medication specialists”; third year – “Pharmacists prevent and manage drug-related problems to improve patient coutcomes”. All students complete their coursework in Athens, Georgia for the first and second years of the Pharm.D. program. In the third year of the curriculum, some students move to extended campuses in Albany, Augusta, or Savannah, Georgia. Those students remain in the area for their fourth-year experiential training. Within the fourth year, students receive extensive training in various inpatient and outpatient settings. The majority of these experiences occur in teaching hospitals, community hospitals, community pharmacies, home health settings, nursing homes, public health agencies, managed care companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. Students learn to design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and modify patient pharmacotherapeutic plans based upon scientific principles to ensure effective, safe, and economical patient care.
The experience program at the College of Pharmacy is designed to develop professional practice skills in a variety of patient care settings. It is divided into two components: introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). The IPPEs are administered either in stand-alone courses or as part of existing courses offered during the first three years of the program. These experiences are designed to provide students with a better understanding of how pharmacy relates not only to patients but also to other health care disciplines. The fourth year consists of three semesters of full-time APPEs in institutional, community, and other patient care settings. A matching system is used during the third year to assign students to available APPE areas within Georgia. Space within these areas is limited and quotas are set each year based upon site availability and class size. Students are assigned to one area for the entire fourth year. Based upon University policy, we are prohibited from granting preference to students for area assignments. The only allowable exception is for those students moving to Albany, Augusta, or Savannah for their third year coursework who remain in those areas for their APPEs.
Complete information on the Pharm.D. program, as well as graduate and residency programs offered within the College of Pharmacy, can be found at http://www.rx.uga.edu.