Advocacy and Service Programs

Practice Experience is Integrated into our Curriculum

The D’Youville School of Pharmacy embraces and lives the “Grey Nun Creed” of never refusing to serve.  It does so through its didactic and experiential curriculum through service, learning, and purposeful clinical rotations.

The Office of Experiential Education coordinates and manages all aspects of experiential education for the School of Pharmacy once students begin their graduate studies. From introductory rotations to advanced experiences with innovative and progressive pharmacy practices, the Office of Experiential Education works with students, preceptors, and faculty to ensure a highly successful learning experience that benefits both its students and their patients.

The Office of Experiential Education places students in rotations in Pharmacies anywhere within the U.S. and Internationally with a focus on service. Some International opportunities include Australia, Ecuador, Ghana, Iraq, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, please contact Dr. Mario Beccari, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Director of Experiential Education at 716-829-8318 or email: beccarim@dyc.edu.

AUSTRALIA (EXCHANGE APPE ROTATION WITH JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY)

In 2016, D'Youville's School of Pharmacy partnered with James Cook University (JCU) to create a student exchange rotation. Located in North Queensland, Australia, JCU offers lush landscapes, abundant wildlife, and modern amenities in a tropical climate.

Each year, D’Youville’s School of Pharmacy sends two, fourth-year students for a six-week elective international rotation and in return, takes two students from the James Cook's Pharmacy Program.

For the first three weeks, students are placed at the Mt Isa Health Service District, an advanced practice rural clinic covering the Australian outback. Students experience a diverse range of health services including community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, and outreach/remote pharmacy within an indigenous community.

When students return to JCU’s campus in Townsville, Australia’s largest tropical city, they are placed at the Townsville Hospital, a tertiary care hospital, servicing patients from a geographic area that is two and a half times the size of France. This engaging and rewarding experience highlights the international relationships encouraged and fostered at D’Youville.

MEDICAL SERVICE BRIGADE TO ECUADOR (TIMMY GLOBAL HEALTH)

The D’Youville School of Pharmacy Timmy Global Health Chapter was founded in 2012 and has since enabled dozens of students and faculty members to travel to various parts of Ecuador over the course of 10-day trips. These trips include clinical work as well as the opportunity to discover the beauty of their surroundings.

As part of their experience in a Medical Service Brigade, Pharmacy students rotate through various clinic stations such as triage, lab, provider care, and pharmacy consulting. Pharmacy students earn clinical practice credits (IPPE and APPE) for their participation.

The D’Youville Chapter executes the vision and mission of the Timmy Global Health Foundation to help foster a passion for global health and provide students with unique interprofessional service-learning opportunities.

Service Learning Outreach at D'Youville University School of Pharmacy

Giving back to the community is part of the D'Youville University way of life. The D’Youville School of Pharmacy's mission emphasizes social responsibility and contributing to the health and well being well-being of the community through advocacy and service.

The School of Pharmacy's students and faculty are involved in a variety of service programs to improve the lives and people at home and across the globe including participation in fundraising walks to support research and programs for breast cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, diabetes, and asthma.

SERVICE LEARNING IN STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

The approved organizations at D’Youville University School of Pharmacy are:

  • American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP)
  • Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO)
  • Kappa Psi Fraternity
  • Phi Lambda Sigma Fraternity
  • Phytomedicinal Society
  • Rho Chi Honors Society (Academic Honor Society)
  • Student College of Clinical Pharmacy (SCCP)

Many of these organizations host service projects related to patient care and community service. Generation Rx, for example, is an educational program within APhA-ASP that increases public awareness of the dangers of misusing prescription medications. As part of its Generation Rx initiative, D'Youville student pharmacists have visited middle and high schools and made presentations to teens and adults. Each of these organizations has one or multiple faculty advisors, who also are involved with the service programs and events.

SERVICE LEARNING IN THE CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO

Students track their service learning within a comprehensive professional development portfolio. Our program, having an in-person pathway as well as an online pathway has students located across the Nation. Data from these portfolios highlight that our students are not only serving the communities immediately surrounding D’Youville and the Western New York area but in states across the U.S. in their individual hometowns and surrounding areas. D’Youville University School of Pharmacy is proud to have such an impact across the United States given the geographic distribution of our student population. Students’ activities have a wide range including volunteering at their local hospitals, attend mission trips, attend drug take-back days, and fundraising walks for various causes.

RECENT NOTEWORTHY PROJECTS AND OUTREACH INITIATIVES

D'Youville Pharmacy students take part in community outreach projects throughout Western New York and beyond. They’ve educated grade school students about asthma, adults and children about poisonings and poisonous plants, middle and high school students about the hazards of prescription drug abuse, and minority students about careers in Pharmacy. Examples of additional community outreach projects include:

HEALTH FAIR AND PUBLIC EVENTS

In the summer of 2024, student members of APhA-ASP visited the Eden Farmer’s Market on three different occasions to educate attendees about over-the-counter medications and their safe use. This event provided rural outreach from our campus on the West Side of Buffalo. Previously in the summer of 2023, students held a brown bag medication counseling event at the Shawnee Volunteer Fire Company in Niagara County through the Council for Older Adults of Niagara County.

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FLYER OF THE MONTH

APhA-ASP regularly creates and distributes a flier of the month raising awareness and education on different topics such as autism, kidney health, over-the-counter medications, heart health, AIDs, mental health, and Alzheimer’s disease, among other topics.

INFLUENZA VACCINE CLINICS

D’Youville University School of Pharmacy students regularly attend immunization clinics to ensure the community is vaccinated against the flu each influenza season. Students commonly partner with the on-campus, Vital Pharmacy, to vaccinate several senior centers, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes in the area extending from the Southtowns of Buffalo, throughout the city, and into the Northtowns of Buffalo. Some have even traveled to Syracuse and Rochester for these events, showcasing the wide reach of our pharmacy students.