At the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, learning comes alive during our clinical experiences. The Office of Clinical and Experiential Education (OCEE) oversees the clinical and experiential education components of the academic programs. Under the guidance of highly skilled practitioners, students learn how to care for real patients in the professional environment throughout Kentucky and beyond.
PharmD
In the Doctor of Pharmacy program, students begin their experiences in a community pharmacy, starting just weeks into the program. Using their skills learned from their first quarter, they will work with pharmacists and technicians to dispense medications, administer immunizations, and learn the basics of the practice of pharmacy in a community setting. By the end of the first professional year, students will then be exposed to a health system, obtaining over 300 hours of experience during their first year alone. The third professional year is the culmination of learning with the advanced pharmacy practice experiences. Students will have seven unique six-week experiences in a variety of different practice settings. All students are exposed to an academic medical center through the University of Louisville Health and learn alongside other health professions, including medicine. Students are allowed to chose from over 400+ practice sites to find the area of practice that fits with their career interests.
PA
In the physician assistant program, the second professional year is meant to capture the essence of caring for patients. These supervised clinical practice experiences are eight six-week rotations that include emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, women’s health, behavioral health, surgery, pediatrics, and an elective experience. Students will work with a provider to treat and prevent acute and chronic illnesses and will treat patients across the life span. Faculty work with preceptors to ensure that students have robust experiences and knowledge in each clinical area to be proficient to care for all students upon graduation.
We strive for our clinical faculty (preceptors) to be a part of the SU COPHS family. This includes understanding and living out the College’s mission, vision, and values. Our preceptors should demonstrate a desire and aptitude for teaching in the clinical/experiential setting, including the important roles necessary for teaching clinical problem solving such as: instructing, modeling, coaching/mentoring, and facilitating.
Preceptors are to:
- Serve as a role model for students & other practitioners/providers.
- Provide learning experiences in accordance with college & specific program accrediting standards.
- Demonstrate practice expertise & preceptor skills while striving to continuously improve.
Benefits of Serving as a Preceptor
- Access to Sullivan University library resources and the Health Sciences Portal (Please contact OCEE@sullivan.edu if you need to request access)
- Free continuing education credit for preceptor development (program-specific) and access to CEImpact
- Appointment as a Clinical Faculty member of the College with the potential for promotion
- Access to online preceptor resources through CORE ELMS
- Annual preceptor awards recognition
- Student involvement and contributions at your practice site
- Per your interest, engagement with college for other activities such as: admissions interviews, co-curricular activities, serving on committees, advisement of students, didactic and laboratory/skills teaching
All of our programs utilize the experiential platform, CORE ELMS. If interested in becoming a preceptor, please send a request to OCEE@sullivan.edu
If you are a current preceptor for one of our programs, we thank you. We appreciate you taking the responsibility of your professional oath to the fullest sincerity by “expanding and sharing knowledge within the profession” and “utilizing your knowledge, skills, experiences, and values to prepare the next generation.”
