The curriculum for the Doctor of Pharmacy degree includes a minimum of 218 semester hours of college work, 146 semester hours of which must be pharmacy courses or the equivalent.
Students with course credit for non-pharmacy courses or pharmacy courses from another college/school of pharmacy similar to those courses in the professional program may be petitioned for equivalency credit. The degree plan for the Pharm.D. program is shown below under the Pharmacy Course of Study.
Overview
The Pharm.D. curriculum is designed to prepare students to be practice ready upon arrival at their experiential sites, and ultimately undergo more robust clinical and professional growth during their patient care encounters and research activities.
The curriculum integrates core knowledge areas – such as the effects of drugs in the body and how to select a particular drug among a range of options – into courses based on organ systems and disease states, in contrast to the previous system that delivered the information in separate courses where therapeutic relevance is sometimes lost between the molecules and actual medicines.
Integrated Modules
Each integrated module is organ system- or disease-based and provides students with the 360-degree picture of how to treat and/or manage patients. Each module contains key aspects of pathophysiology of disease; pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacogenomics, and toxicology affiliated with the drugs relevant to the disease states; and therapeutic concepts centered on therapeutic goals, drug selection, monitoring, and self-care. Where appropriate, all spectrums of ages (pediatrics through geriatrics) are included.
Module-Related Skills Lab (MRSL)
For each semester of integrated modules, there is an affiliated MRSL which presents students with structured cases as well as reinforcing courses covered earlier in the curriculum (e.g., pharmacokinetics, calculations, pharmaceutics, patient assessment, literature evaluation, communication, pharmacoeconomics, self-care, etc.). These MRSLs are hands-on activities with an emphasis on critical thinking and skill development allowing our students to meet accreditation standards of becoming "practice ready."
Electives
Students must complete six hours (a minimum of three elective courses) in pharmacy elective courses. Four of the six pharmacy elective hours may be satisfied by completion of two Selected Topics courses (PHAR 5198, 5298, 5398). Any student may participate in a Selected Topics course if they are in good academic standing in the College and have approval of a faculty member who will supervise their work.
Hours in Residence
The college requires at least three years in residence in the professional program at the college of pharmacy for graduation. Students transferring from another school or college of pharmacy are required to complete at least 25% of the semester hours of pharmacy and related work in residence at the University of Houston.