Pharmacy Intern Certificate

All accepted students will be required to obtain a Pharmacy Intern Certificate from the South Carolina Board of Pharmacy. This certificate will need to be obtained, at minimum, no later than October 1st of the P1 year in order to participate in the rotation scheduling process. If a student’s Pharmacy Intern Certificate is suspended, revoked, or voluntarily surrendered, the student may be suspended from the College of Pharmacy. Because enrollment in the Doctor of Pharmacy professional degree program is a requirement for earning intern hours required for pharmacist licensure in the state of South Carolina, the College of Pharmacy will report the name of any student who ceases enrollment within the professional degree program to the South Carolina Board of Pharmacy.

A student completing any pharmacy practice experience outside of South Carolina is responsible for determining necessity of and obtaining (if required) a Pharmacy Intern Certificate in that respective state. The certificate must be provided to the Office of Experiential Education prior to the start of the pharmacy practice experience. 

Pharmacy Practice Experience Policies

• Pharmacy students complete a minimum of 11 pharmacy practice experiences (rotations) which represent approximately 1/3 of the total pharmacy curriculum. Students must abide by both the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy Academic Bulletin and the respective IPPE or APPE rotation manuals.
• Each student is required to complete two Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs), one in Community Pharmacy and the other in Hospital/Health System Pharmacy, which take place during the summer months following the P1 and P2 curriculum years, respectively. During the P4 year of the program, each student completes 9 Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) with 5 rotations being in ACPE-required experiential categories and 4 being electives in a variety of settings. 
• Rotations are scheduled by a computerized assignment process using an experiential rotation management system. Students may enter preferences for physical location, rotation sites, and preceptors, but preferences are not guaranteed.
• The Office of Experiential Education will attempt to place students at a site that is approximately one hour driving distance each way from their permanent or temporary residence in South Carolina. Students may be provided the opportunity to coordinate out of state rotations according to the policies provided by the Office of Experiential Education.
• Students must maintain current immunizations, health insurance, American Heart Association Basic Life Saving for Healthcare Professionals certification, and pharmacy intern certificates while enrolled in the College of Pharmacy. These requirements must initially be completed prior to the end of the P1 year by the deadlines established by the Office of Experiential Education. Students are responsible for associated costs for meeting and maintaining these requirements in addition to other rotation site requirements which may include, but are not limited to, other immunizations and health screenings, drug screens, blood titers and additional background searches. Drug screens required by rotation sites are separate from the College of Pharmacy random drug screening process. These incurred costs are the responsibility of the student and are in addition to established tuition and fees.
• Students must be prepared to arrange and pay for their own travel and housing for IPPEs and/or APPEs.
• It is a privilege for a practice site to allow students into their facility to complete pharmacy practice experiences. Sites determine what requirements must be completed by the student for such experiences to take place. The University of South Carolina and College of Pharmacy cannot mandate any site to provide a rotation for a student who has not met the site’s requirements. Practice sites require student-specific documentation from the Office of Experiential Education for rotation onboarding purposes. Students must complete an authorization to allow the transfer of this information. Noncompliance with these requirements may impact the student’s progression through the Pharm.D. curriculum and possibly cause a delay in the student’s graduation.
• Only students who have completed College of Pharmacy Experiential requirements by given deadlines will be permitted to participate in rotation scheduling processes. Additionally, students must complete College of Pharmacy and practice site requirements by the onboarding deadlines provided by the Office of Experiential, or the rotation will be canceled and rescheduled by the Director of Experiential Education based on remaining site availability. This may impact the student’s progression through the Pharm.D. curriculum and possibly cause a delay in the student’s graduation.
• Students are expected to be on rotation each business day of rotation time block, but the preceptor determines the rotation schedule which may include evenings and weekends. A minimum of 160 hours must be completed for each of the 11 unique rotations. Documentation of absences must be submitted through the rotation management system. A student who does not complete the required number of hours for any rotation will not receive credit for the course and could receive a failing grade for that rotation and be required to remediate that entire experiential course. Completing required rotation hours does not constitute a passing grade; a rotation grade is determined by the preceptor’s final evaluation of the student’s performance, and any noncompliance penalties applied by the office of Experiential Education. In order to maintain grade integrity, the Office of Experiential Education will not increase the grade assigned by a student’s preceptor in the reporting of the final course grade to the University Registrar for inclusion on the student’s official transcript.
• A student may be removed and/or dismissed from a rotation due to preceptor or site request for any reason at any point during the rotation. Reasons for student removal or dismissal by a preceptor may include, but not be limited to, inadequate rotation performance, lack of competence, violation of site and/or preceptor policies, disruption of workflow and/or work environment, and/or professionalism issues. In the case of removal or dismissal from a rotation, the student’s final grade will be determined by the preceptor’s submitted final evaluation at the time the rotation ends and the student will be subject to the Scholastic Standing and Professionalism Policies of the Academic Bulletin as applicable.   
• Pharmacy practice experiences are University courses. Students who do not complete their required evaluations and attendance documentation within seven days after the rotation ends will incur a noncompliance penalty as established by the Director of Experiential Education. Penalties could include a change in preference status for subsequent rotations and/or grade penalties applied to grade calculated by the preceptor’s final evaluation of the student’s performance.
• The Office of Experiential Education makes the final decision on each student’s rotation placement and schedule. Rotations that must be rescheduled and/or remediated for any reason will be determined by the Director of Experiential Education.