The Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education(ACPE) and PharmD graduates are eligible for licensure in all 50 states. The ACPE standards encourage diversity of faculty, administrators, staff, and students at all colleges of pharmacy. The guidelines also state that graduates should be prepared to interact with patients from diverse backgrounds and recognize that they must learn how to provide care in a culturally effective manner. The University of Iowa College of Pharmacy addresses these standards in its teaching throughout the didactic and experiential components of the professional program through:

Required Courses

• Pharmacy Practice Laboratory Course Series (6 courses, P1 through P3 years) These laboratory courses provide students with opportunities to practice communication skills, including intercultural encounters.
• 046:122 Social Aspects of Pharmacy (2 sh) This course introduces students to health disparities and health literacy and provides students with a foundation for understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to become culturally competent health providers.
• Other courses, such as the therapeutics modules and clinical practice skills courses include information about specific population groups when relevant to the topic.

Fourth-year Advanced Practice Experience

• 046:188 Elective Pharmacy Practice: Underserved Population Rotation (4sh) Experiences provide the opportunity to learn best practices for pharmaceutical management and approaches to enchance access to and appropriate use of medications in underserved and resource-limited environments.

Elective Courses

• 046:126 International Perspectives: Xicotepec (3 sh) This course is designed to introduce multidisciplinary students to provision of service to a community in a less developed country. In collaboration with Rotary International, students develop discipline specific projects aimed at improving community life in Xicotepec, Mexico. The course prepares the student culturally and professionally for team work in an international environment. This is a service-learning course that requires travel to Xicotepec, Mexico, over spring break.
• 046:127 Pharmaceutical Management for Underserved Populations (3 sh) Students will be guided to analyze problems and develop strategies based on real world drug management issues including regulations, manufacture, procurement, distribution, safety, policy, financing and the unique aspects international pharmaceutical trade, the role of the World Trade Organization - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO-TRIPS), government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals/programs in the in the selection and use of pharmaceutical products.
• 046:377 Health Disparities & Cultural Competence (2-4 sh) This elective interdisciplinary course allows students to study health disparities in greater depth than in other courses and introduces students to additional strategies and information to develop cultural competence skills.

Service Learning Video from the University of Iowa Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology