Providing Health Care Service-learning Experiences for IPPE Credit

Service-learning (SL) provides an opportunity for students to learn personal and professional skills while providing a useful service to the community. Many pharmacy education programs use SL within their curriculum because of the benefits to the community, the faculty, the learning institution and the student(s). While SL has been used in schools/colleges of pharmacy for many years, SL that also fulfills IPPE requirements is newer. This paper seeks to promote the use of combined SL/IPPE experiences. It provides an example where students volunteered at federally qualified health centers and also reviews the ACPE Standards related to SL. Schools/colleges of pharmacy are encouraged to design mechanisms for students to participate in combined SL/IPPE experiences as part of their IPPE requirements.