Accelerated Program

One of only a limited number of accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy Degree programs nationwide through full-time continuous enrollment, South University provides four academic years of study within three calendar years. After being accepted to the South University School of Pharmacy, students begin a 12-quarter schedule.

Curriculum

The carefully structured curriculum is designed to prepare graduates for high standards of contemporary pharmacy practice as well as the evolution of the profession.

Teaching Method

In a setting of collaborative learning and teamwork, the program interrelates the basic sciences and practice.

Technology and Facilities

The South University School of Pharmacy offers personalized and technical instructional delivery utilizing industry-standard equipment and facilities.

The role of pharmacists in the medical field is changing and evolving to meet the demands of the profession and society. The Doctor of Pharmacy degree program’s curriculum at South University is structured to produce graduates who can adapt to the profession’s changes while also maintaining high standards of pharmacy practice. South University’s progressive curriculum is designed to incorporate technology in addition to a traditional classroom setting.

South University Campus and Affiliations with Healthcare Facilities

The South University School of Pharmacy in Savannah is a 40,000-square-foot, freestanding, facility designed specifically to house a modern pharmacy school. The building provides instructional, laboratory, and office facilities for pharmacy students, faculty and administrators. This facility also provides two large modern lecture halls and an adequate number of small classrooms to facilitate small group instruction.

A General Purpose Laboratory is located in the building. This laboratory includes rooms for patient counseling practice and teaching physical assessment. All rooms have videotape/playback capabilities. In addition, a sterile products room and a model pharmacy are available. This practice laboratory accommodates up to 34 students per class, and is designed to emulate real practice settings as well as to provide maximum use in the academic program. There is also a 32-station Analytical Chemistry Laboratory that is used for chemistry, pharmaceutics, and professional laboratory courses. A Drug Information Center on the first floor provides an active learning center in the School of Pharmacy.

Practice sites have been recruited to support the experiential component of the curriculum. Early activity will be focused on the introductory practice experiences. Students will be precepted at sites in all three phases of practice experience: introductory, intermediate and advanced. Experiential sites will include, but not be limited to, chain and independent community pharmacies, teaching and community hospitals, long term care facilities, managed care facilities, pharmaceutical companies, home infusion therapy companies, regulatory agencies, family practice clinics and a veterinary hospital, among others.

On June 14, 2010, South University opened the doors to the second campus offering the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program.  The School of Pharmacy occupies a new building in Columbia, SC, on the existing South University campus. The building is complete with a pharmacy practice lab, mock pharmacy and patient assessment labs affording students the opportunity to develop dispensing, compounding, intravenous admixture and patient assessment/counseling skills.  The laboratory in Columbia accommodates 48 students and is a complete practice and chemistry laboratory in one.  An onsite Drug Information Center provides information to consumers and healthcare professionals as well as serves as an advanced rotation site for students.

The South University, Columbia faculty, in conjunction with the South University, Savannah faculty, are a combination of professionals who enable South University to utilize Tandberg distance education, and other modern technologies in combination with live instruction, and who provide the pharmacy education required for students to develop the professional skills to serve patients.

South University has developed a program that is visionary in its approach to educating Pharmacy students, with a carefully structured curriculum designed to prepare graduates for both high standards of contemporary pharmacy practice and the evolution of the profession. At South University, we have integrated Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics into one combined continuing course sequence developed in full collaboration by science and practice faculty. The resulting efficiency allows a rigorous comprehensive didactic component in a curriculum that contains 12 months of full-time rotations using an accelerated, full-time 12-quarter schedule designed to deliver four academic years in three calendar years.

Program Student Learning Outcomes:

Domain 1: Foundational Knowledge

1.1.      Apply principles of chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology to medication safety and efficacy.

1.2.      Apply the principles of pharmaceutical science and calculations to drug design and drug delivery systems.

1.3.      Apply pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacogenomic principles to therapeutic strategies.

1.4.      Compare and contrast the physiology and biochemistry of normal body system function to that of abnormal function.

1.5.      Critically analyze literature related to drugs and diseases to enhance clinical decision-making.

      Domain 2: Essentials for Practice and Care

2.1.      Collect subjective and objective patient information to identify medication and medical-related problems.

2.2.      Assess and analyze information to determine effectiveness of therapy, identify problems, and prioritize needs to achieve optimal patient care.

2.3.      Design an individual patient-centered care plan in collaboration with the patient and other health care professionals that is evidence-based and cost-effective to maximize desired effects.

2.4.      Implement the care plan in collaboration with the patient, caregiver, and other healthcare professionals.

2.5.      Follow-up and monitor the care plan to evaluate its effectiveness and modify the plan as needed.

Domain 3: Approach to Practice and Care of Individual Patients

3.1       Demonstrate accurate, safe, and time-sensitive preparation, dispensing, and administration of pharmaceuticals.

3.2       Manage pharmacy resources to optimize pharmacotherapy outcomes for individual patients.

3.3       Educate patients and health care providers.

Domain 4: Approach to Practice and Care of Populations

4.1       Demonstrate skills needed to participate in, or provide, preventive services.

4.2       Apply research processes to ensure informed decision-making.

Personal and Professional Development

5.1       Examine personal attributes that may enhance or limit personal and professional growth.

5.2       Demonstrate responsibility for creating and achieving shared goals, regardless of organizational position.

5.3       Engage in innovative and creative methods to accomplish goals. 

5.4       Demonstrate professional citizenship in the delivery of patient care, distribution of medications, and the promotion of wellness and disease prevention.

5.5       Advocate for the profession and patients.

5.6       Effectively communicate verbally and nonverbally when interacting with an individual, group, or organization.

5.7       Demonstrate problem solving skills including the ability to think critically, exercise professional judgment, and articulate and defend a decision.

5.8       Exhibit behaviors and values that are consistent with the trust bestowed to the profession by patients, other healthcare providers, and society.

5.9       Demonstrate knowledge of, and compliance with, federal and state laws/regulations governing the practice of pharmacy.

Create Value for Stakeholders of the Health Care System

6.1       Demonstrate the ability to create a business plan and/or strategy to launch a new service, product, or business line or improve an existing one.

6.2       Demonstrate the ability to apply performance improvement strategies to monitor the quality of a service, product, or business.

6.3       Demonstrate the ability to apply business and financial management tools to monitor the performance of a service, product, or business.