Description
Let the Energy Be Your Guide and Just Flow…Lessons and Reflections on the Development of an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiential (APPE) Rotation in a School of Pharmacy
Dana Nardozzi1, Jacey Stayduhar2, and Paula A. Witt-Enderby3
1 Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist
R&I Primary Care with AstraZeneca
Chesapeake, Virginia, USA
2 Staff Pharmacist- Allegheny General Hospital
Allegheny Health Network, Greater Pittsburgh Region, USA
3 School of Pharmacy
Duquesne University, USA
wittp@duq.edu
Abstract
Established guidelines on natural product competency have
been developed by the National Association of Boards of
Pharmacy (NABP) for the North American Pharmacist Licensure
Examination (NAPLEX). However, the criteria for integrative
healthcare have not been established by the Accreditation
Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) even though ACPE
standards 2 (Essentials for Practice and Care), 3 (Approach
to Practice and Care), and 11 (Interprofessional Education)
have key elements of complementary and integrative health
as it relates to establishing competencies, patient advocacy,
and interprofessional team education. During their sixth year,
pharmacy students are required to take seven Advanced Pharmacy
Practice Experiential (APPE) experiences that are delivered in 5-
or 6-week blocks (40 h/week) for a total of 1440 ACPE-required
hours. The overarching goals of the APPE experiences are to provide a depth of experiences related to the practice of pharmacy
with the majority of APPE time focused on direct patient care.
Required rotations include hospital/health system pharmacy,
inpatient general medicine patient care, ambulatory patient care,
community pharmacy, and three elective rotations. To address
one of the gaps in pharmacy education in integrative health,
an APPE rotation focused on Ayurveda and holistic practices
was developed and offered as an elective starting January 2022.
Since 2022, eight 6th-year pharmacy students have successfully
matriculated through this rotation. Besides providing valuable
insight to our future pharmacists in the area of Ayurveda,
yoga, and herbal and natural products, the work product from
these APPE experiences was designed to continually sustain
educational programming in this area in the form of peer-reviewed
publications (See Publication under the Reflection by Jacey from
first APPE rotation), the development of an elective course on
Ayurveda and holistic practices (See description under Reflection
by Dana from second APPE rotation; tentative date of offering
fall 2025), and the development of continuing education (CE)
programming for healthcare professionals (work product from
recent third APPE rotation; tentative release date fall 2024).
