University Of Southern Nevada
COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
Pharmacy Curriculum
The University utilizes the block system of curricular design, which provides students with the opportunity to study one content area intensely. Faculty, using a variety of educational strategies, help students achieve the learning objectives for each block. The program does not award students traditional letter grades (e.g., A, B, C, D or F). However, faculty require students to demonstrate competency by successfully passing every assessment (examination) that is associated with each block. The program also offers a unique experiential training program that places students in a community pharmacy practice setting within the first two weeks after beginning classes in the University.
The curriculum of the University of Southern Nevada College of Pharmacy PharmD program can be divided into two major components: the didactic component and the experiential component.
04. PHAR 682 Pharmacovigilance
Pharmacovigilance is a broad-based science that involves identification and evaluation of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in order to determine appropriate actions to reduce or prevent drug-induced harm to patients. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) confront community and hospital and institutional pharmacists on a regular basis, e.g., a patient with a possible drug reaction, analysis of a recently reported ADR, review of a recent journal article dealing with pharmacotherapy, a new drug being considered for addition to the hospital formulary, setting up a drug study with a pharmaceutical company or a group of research colleagues, or evaluating a drug data base for a government or institutional department. This important 4 credit elective course requires application of knowledge and skills obtained during the Pharm.D. program. The PVG elective enhances his/her knowledge and skills regarding discovery, evaluation, documentation plus treatment and prevention of ADRs from the patient care level to strategic planning at the program level. Students will also obtain a unique perspective of FDA regulations which govern the practice of pharmacovigilance by pharmaceutical companies. Students will also discuss methods to enhance the role of pharmacists in pharmacovigilance activities. The course directors will present didactic knowledge and skills, assessments will document the accrual of learning, and student presentations on timely issues and topics will demonstrate the students’ enhanced abilities. Instructor: Ziance; Cr. Hr.: 4.