A professor at Purdue’s pharmacy school has developed two service learning courses to introduce direct work with patients earlier on in his students training than normal. In the first course students visit with elderly, homebound patients to talk about their illness and learn about diseases first hand. In the second couse students participate in patient care-related projects in conjunction with community helath and social service agencies. Often students work in highly organized agencies, and this can be difficult at first because the students do not feel that they are making a direct impact. The doctor who runs this program sees this ambiguity as useful because he believes the role of the pharmacist is changing and that the program will help prepare them for that change.

Contact: Robert K. Chalmers, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Professional Programs at 317.494.1382

This information originally appeared in “”Science and Society: Redefining the Relationship”" by Stephen Miller. Published by Campus Compact, 1996.