THE GEOTECH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PHARMACY (Reviews)
INTRODUCTION
In the United States, Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) is a professional degree track that offers opportunities in research, teaching, clinical practice, industry, manufacturing, judicial, and a multitude of other areas.
The core requirements for professional pharmacists to acquire registration is often an undergraduate or postgraduate pharmacy degree from a recognized university. Predominantly, this requires completion of a four- or five-year course to attain a bachelor of pharmacy or master of pharmacy degree.
Students must complete a doctor of pharmacy degree to become a licensed pharmacist. The doctor of pharmacy degree usually requires completion of four years at an accredited college of pharmacy after an undergraduate degree or other approved courses.
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in Commonwealth English (excluding Canada), is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in order to dispense them safely to the public and to provide consultancy services. A pharmacist also may serve as an Internet pharmacy, primary care provider in the community and offers services, such as health screenings and immunizations.
PHARMACY SCHOOL ACCREDITATION
The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) is known as the accrediting body for schools of pharmacy in the United States. The mission of ACPE is “To assure excellence in education for the profession of pharmacy.” It is recognized for the accreditation of professional degree programs by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). ACPE has also been the accrediting body for continuing pharmacy education. The ACPE board of directors are appointed by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) (three appointments each), and the American Council on Education (one appointment). In order to obtain licensure in the United States, applicants for the NAPLEX must have graduated from an ACPE accredited school of pharmacy.
ACPE publishes standards that schools of pharmacy must comply with in order to gain accreditation. There are standards organized within six major categories of 1) mission, planning, and evaluation, 2) organization and administration, 3) curriculum, 4) students, 5) faculty and staff, 6) facilities and resources. Any pre-candidate status pharmacy school pursuing accreditation may be acquired upon submissions of a filed application. Respectively, no student enrollment is necessary prior to accreditation status met; an indication that the school of pharmacy has developed its program in accordance with the ACPE standards and guidelines.
Candidate status is assumed after a school has enrolled students that haven't had graduating class. These expectations set standard-based guidelines for candidate programs that abide by these academic plans and regulations in accordance with mandates. Fully accreditation is granted to a program once they have demonstrated compliance with the standards set forth by ACPE and may be subject to on-site evaluations and periodical reviews. Typically the requirements for licensure by reciprocity are less rigorous and may require as little as passing an additional law exam.
EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALING
Geotech University in the United States is equivalent to these List of pharmacy schools
offers pre-medical, Bachelor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy of Pharmacist credential related programs. Upon completion of the program, a candidate to medical school completes about four years of study; and fulfills pharmacy residency in a specialty such as Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Becoming a pharmacist requires registration with the country, state, or province's regulatory agency. Prior to registration, the candidate pharmacists are required to register in addition to the graduation, completion of a number of hours of experience in a pharmacy under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. There may be a written and oral examination that a national examining board may administer.
In many contexts, students must first complete pre-professional (undergraduate) coursework, followed by about four years of professional academic studies to obtain a degree in pharmacy (such as Doctorate of Pharmacy). Pharmacists are educated in pharmacology, pharmacognosy, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, microbiology, pharmacy practice (including drug interactions, medicine monitoring, medication management), pharmaceutics, pharmacy law, pathophysiology, physiology, anatomy, drug delivery, pharmaceutical care, nephrology, hepatology, and compounding of medications. Additional curriculum may cover diagnosis with emphasis on laboratory tests, disease state management, therapeutics and prescribing (selecting the most appropriate medication for a given patient).
Upon graduation, pharmacists are licensed, either nationally or regionally, to dispense medication of various types in the areas they have trained for.
A Bachelor of Pharmacy (abbreviated BPharm or PharmB) or Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (BS Pharm) is an academic degree in the field of pharmacy. The degree provides training to understand the properties and impacts of medicines and develop the skills required to counsel patients about their use. In most countries where it is offered, the course of study typically requires four years. Bachelor of Pharmacy degree holders can pursue various career paths, including working as a pharmacist, providing patient counseling, pursuing further studies such as a master's degree, teaching at a university as a lecturer, or working as a drug information specialist.
A Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD; Neo-Latin: Pharmaciae Doctor) is a professional doctorate in pharmacy. In some countries, it is a proficient graduate degree to practice the profession of pharmacy or to become a clinical pharmacist. In many countries, people with their Doctor of Pharmacy are allowed to practice independently and can prescribe drugs directly to patients. A PharmD program has significant experiential and/or clinical education components in introductory and advanced levels for the safe and effective use of drugs. Experiential education prepares graduates to be practice-ready, as they already have spent a significant amount of time training in areas of direct patient care and research.
LICENSING
A license is not required for every practitioner; yet, licensed by examination may require graduation from an AACP accredited school or college of pharmacy, satisfy requirements for internship, write and pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX). The variation of states written and passed the Multi-state Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (MPJE) is sometimes an additional state exam for credentials specific. Upon licensure, one may then be designated "Pharmacist" or "Registered Pharmacist" ("R.Ph."), as usage of these titles are generally regulated by state governments.
According to the ACPE, accreditation can be granted for the baccalaureate in pharmacy degree and the doctor of pharmacy degree. The doctor of pharmacy degree is designated to prepare graduates who are “educationally skilled for practice and should satisfy educational requirements for licensure.” Students who receive a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy or pharmaceutical sciences may pursue a doctorate to become eligible for licensure as a pharmacist. After obtaining a license, it must be periodically renewed by completing continuing education and other requirements as prescribed by the state of licensure.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
In 2014, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that there were 297,100 American pharmacist jobs. By 2024 that number was projected to grow by 3%. The majority (65%) of those pharmacists work in retail settings, mostly as salaried employees but some as self-employed owners. About 22% work in hospitals, and the rest mainly in mail-order or pharmaceutical wholesalers, practices of physicians, and the Federal Government.
All graduating pharmacists must now obtain the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree before they are eligible to sit for the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) to enter into pharmacy practice. In addition, pharmacists are subject to state-level jurisprudence exams in order to practice from state to state.
The American Pharmacy Journal of Education in 2014 reported the average salary around $112,160.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016–17 Edition, Median annual wages of wage and salary pharmacists in May 2015 were $121,500.
In 2020 US News and World Report noted that the median pharmacist salary was $128,710. The top 25 percent of pharmacist earners made $147,690 that year, while the lowest 25 percent made $112,690.
