Monthly Meetings

Monthly SSHP meetings offer interested students excellent opportunities to not only interact with their peers over lunch (which SSHP usually supplies), but also to learn more about the field of pharmacy, all while participating in an extracurricular activity. During these meetings, upcoming events and voting issues are discussed. In addition, SSHP meetings often serve as a forum for invited professionals to speak about their experiences in the field of pharmacy. This provides attendees with alternative viewpoints on the field, as well as an opportunity to network with professionals outside of The University of Arizona. 

Residency Showcase

Each Spring, SSHP hosts a residency showcase at the College of Pharmacy. It provides a great opportunity for students who are interested in doing a residency to interact with residents and preceptors from different hospitals and community pharmacies around Arizona and the nation.

Mentor/Mentee Program

Each Fall, SSHP hosts a Mentor/Mentee meet and mingle. Incoming P1 students are paired with upperclassmen in the P2, P3, and P4 cohorts. The purpose of the Mentor/Mentee program is to provide networking and assistance to incoming pharmacy students. Mentees can meet with their Mentor via zoom or in-person when they have questions about studying, coursework, upcoming projects, and more.

Pharmacy Shadowing Program

The mission of the Clinical Pharmacy Shadowing Program is to give SSHP members the opportunity to gain exposure to different avenues of health-system pharmacy prior to their APPE rotations. This will allow members to easily network with pharmacists and start to develop an idea of what areas of clinical pharmacy they may want to pursue. This program is exclusive to SSHP members.

Each year SSHP holds a schoolwide Clinical Skills Competition (CSC) which is open to all students. First-years can compete. Winners of the school-wide competition will receive complimentary registration at the Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, and compete at the national level. The purpose of the Clinical Skills Competition is to increase pharmacy students' awareness of the importance of the pharmacist's role in direct patient care. In the competition, students work on case studies in self-selected teams of two. Teams compete by demonstrating their skills in assessing patient information and current therapy, identifying and prioritizing drug therapy problems, identifying treatment goals, and recommending a pharmacy care plan. A panel of evaluators determines the winners of the competition using the criteria provided.

During the competition, each team will have two hours to complete the written materials. Teams may not take anything from or bring anything into the room during that time. Resources will be provided. Upon completion of the written portion, teams will give a 5-minute oral presentation justifying their care plan recommendations. At the national level, there will be an additional 5-minute question-and-answer period.

Case presentations are evaluated on the thoroughness of the recommendations, accuracy of the presented material and overall communication skills. A winning team is declared based on the combined score of the written submissions and the oral presentation. 

The National Competition

The National Competition is held annually during the Midyear Clinical Meeting. It is a two-day event, completed in two phases. Eligibility requirements of the national competition include the requirements for the school competition. Only teams who have qualified at the school level are eligible to participate in the national competition. Cases used in the national competition use the same format as the school competition but have an advanced level of difficulty.

Preliminary Round

The preliminary round consists of the written case work-up only. Each school's winning team will compete in the preliminary round, but only the 10 highest-scoring teams advance to a final round to give their oral presentations. The preliminary round is a closed session and opens only to participants. The top 10 finalist teams will be announced during the student programming on Sunday morning.

Final Round

The final round consists of oral presentations. Meeting attendees may observe the oral presentations during the final round of competition. Winners of the National Clinical Skills Competition will be announced at the Student and New Practitioner Reception on Sunday evening.

Prizes/Awards

Prizes for the national competition consist of a $100 ASHP gift certificate and a copy of ASHP's PharmPrep, a CD-ROM-based board exam preparatory tool, that will be given to each team member of the10 finalist teams. The winning team will also receive a cash award of $500 each.

Each year the interest areas of UA pharmacy students grow and their postgraduate curiosity abounds in diversity. One way for students to gain experience in these areas of interest is to apply for pharmacy summer internships. At the University of Arizona, we have two summers off: between our first and second year, and  between our second and third professional years of pharmacy school. Using these summers as learning experiences, students can take advantage of the national and international opportunities available in specialized areas of pharmacy. Many of these pharmacy internships are paid. They include such focus areas as basic research, clinical, industrial, managed care pharmacy and many other areas.

During the month of November, NCPA and SSHP join together to hold the Pharmacy Internship Colloquium. This is an informal event to have interested students ask questions and gain feedback from students who have previously participated in summer internships. During the colloquium, students give a 3- to 5-minute presentation of their internship and tell the audience about their daily internship routine, their accomplishments and some of the pros and cons they encountered during their summer work.

This is an opportunity for you to take advantage of internships to develop your professional status and viewpoints in pharmacy. By applying for these internships you open up new venues of pharmacy practice to future University of Arizona College of Pharmacy students.