Development and incorporation of an interprofessional experience into a geriatric pharmacy elective: the first-year experience

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education has declared that pharmacy students should be prepared to provide patient care as a member of an interprofessional team of practitioners. Nowhere is the importance of this team approach more evident than when considering geriatric patients who often use a substantial number of medications to treat what is frequently a complex group of chronic and acute conditions. To introduce an interprofessional approach to the treatment of geriatric patients, pharmacy faculty at the Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions developed an elective course in geriatrics that exposed the students to a patient care experience with occupational and physical therapy student partners. The challenges associated with the development of the interprofessional component of the course and the use of the experience as expressed by the students who enrolled are discussed.