WVU School of Pharmacy Community Service Guidelines

Community Service Guidelines

INTRODUCTION:
The School of Pharmacy professional program requires the completion of 100 hours of community service prior to the granting of the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Twenty-five of the 100 hours will be obtained via the service learning component of the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) in year two of the curriculum. Students are encouraged to perform community service that will develop into a habit and continue throughout their careers, for pharmacy practitioners are frequently called upon to provide leadership in service to the communities they serve. More importantly, pharmacy is by nature a service profession and the School of Pharmacy endorses service learning as an integral part of the curriculum.

QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES:
Service may occur in a wide variety of areas including: volunteer time with patient care groups, community service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.), religious organizations, non-profit health care organizations, self-help groups, donating blood or bone marrow, local school education, health assessment programs (e.g. blood pressure/glucose/cholesterol screenings), and volunteering at social service organizations (e.g. Red Cross, Special Olympics, March of Dimes, Health Right). Students are encouraged to participate in multiple events. Opportunities are often listed in local newspapers, and, when made known to the Office of Student Services, will be posted in the Message of the Week. Students are also encouraged to create and/or investigate opportunities on their own. Students should check with the Office of Student Services (e-mail Dean Ridgway at wridgway@hsc.wvu.edu) to verify that an activity will qualify for community service credit before they take part in that activity. A list of qualifying activities/organizations can be found at the above link (Site List).

GUIDELINES:
In general, the Office of Student Services will grant hour for hour work credit. In some instances, credit may be increased above that for preparatory work needed to complete the service. Every effort to coordinate with the other HSC schools to award similar hours of credit will be made for activities that occur with other HSC students. Students may earn up to 10 hours by providing service to the School of Pharmacy itself (e.g. assisting with Orientation, Bowl of Hygeia Ceremony, Commencement, applicant interviews, etc.). Students may also earn community service hours by making donations to charitable causes (no more than 10 hours of service may be earned via donations, all donations regardless of size earn 1 hour of service per donation). Beginning January 1, 2006, in order for a monetary donation to merit an hour of community service, the donation must be $5 or more. The figure was derived from considering what would be comparable to an hour's wages (minimum). As you may know, we are one of the few HSC programs that permits a monetary donation to count towards community service; this change will hopefully allow us to retain that component of our community service policy. Be sure to record donations made before January 1, 2006 by January 1, 2008.
In general, students may obtain no more than 25% of the total hours in any one event or type of activity.

Examples of service that will not be included as community service include: If the service is performed as part of a department or school curricular requirement, this will not count toward the community service requirement (service learning hours in the P2 year do count, but are recorded separately [see "Recording Hours"]). Service or work that is monetarily compensated will also not count towards the time requirement (in short-if you get paid or a grade (except for service learning) for performing a service it doesn't count). Service or work provided gratis to a for-profit health care organization (pharmacy, dental, physician or other health care practitioner office, laboratory, clinic, hospital, etc.) does not qualify for community service.

RECORDING HOURS:
Students must record their community service hours on the SOLE Community Service site and may check their total number of approved hours at anytime. IPPE hours are to be reported on the SOLE IPPE Service Learning site. Students are reminded that they are on the Honor system and should only record those hours and activities that they have actually performed. Failure to do so may result in charges of academic dishonesty being brought before the Committee on Academic and Professional Integrity. The Assistant Dean for Student Services reserves the right to question the number of hours entered and make appropriate changes (increase or decrease) in the number recorded. Students who enter with an advanced standing will have their 100 hour requirement prorated as per the Assistant Dean.

Updated 8/7/07

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**JavaScript based drop down DHTML menu generated by NavStudio. (OpenCube Inc. - http://www.opencube.com)**	Community Service Guidelines Site List INTRODUCTION: The School of Pharmacy professional program requires the completion of 100 hours of community service prior to the granting of the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Twenty-five of the 100 hours will be obtained via the service learning component of the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) in year two of the curriculum. Students are encouraged to perform community service that will develop into a habit and continue throughout their careers, for pharmacy practitioners are frequently called upon to provide leadership in service to the communities they serve. More importantly, pharmacy is by nature a service profession and the School of Pharmacy endorses service learning as an integral part of the curriculum. QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES: Service may occur in a wide variety of areas including: volunteer time with patient care groups, community service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.), religious organizations, non-profit health care organizations, self-help groups, donating blood or bone marrow, local school education, health assessment programs (e.g. blood pressure/glucose/cholesterol screenings), and volunteering at social service organizations (e.g. Red Cross, Special Olympics, March of Dimes, Health Right). Students are encouraged to participate in multiple events. Opportunities are often listed in local newspapers, and, when made known to the Office of Student Services, will be posted in the Message of the Week. Students are also encouraged to create and/or investigate opportunities on their own. Students should check with the Office of Student Services (e-mail Dean Ridgway at wridgway@hsc.wvu.edu) to verify that an activity will qualify for community service credit before they take part in that activity. A list of qualifying activities/organizations can be found at the above link (Site List). GUIDELINES: In general, the Office of Student Services will grant hour for hour work credit. In some instances, credit may be increased above that for preparatory work needed to complete the service. Every effort to coordinate with the other HSC schools to award similar hours of credit will be made for activities that occur with other HSC students. Students may earn up to 10 hours by providing service to the School of Pharmacy itself (e.g. assisting with Orientation, Bowl of Hygeia Ceremony, Commencement, applicant interviews, etc.). Students may also earn community service hours by making donations to charitable causes (no more than 10 hours of service may be earned via donations, all donations regardless of size earn 1 hour of service per donation). Beginning January 1, 2006, in order for a monetary donation to merit an hour of community service, the donation must be $5 or more. The figure was derived from considering what would be comparable to an hour's wages (minimum). As you may know, we are one of the few HSC programs that permits a monetary donation to count towards community service; this change will hopefully allow us to retain that component of our community service policy. Be sure to record donations made before January 1, 2006 by January 1, 2008. In general, students may obtain no more than 25% of the total hours in any one event or type of activity. Examples of service that will not be included as community service include: If the service is performed as part of a department or school curricular requirement, this will not count toward the community service requirement (service learning hours in the P2 year do count, but are recorded separately [see "Recording Hours"]). Service or work that is monetarily compensated will also not count towards the time requirement (in short-if you get paid or a grade (except for service learning) for performing a service it doesn't count). Service or work provided gratis to a for-profit health care organization (pharmacy, dental, physician or other health care practitioner office, laboratory, clinic, hospital, etc.) does not qualify for community service. RECORDING HOURS: Students must record their community service hours on the SOLE Community Service site and may check their total number of approved hours at anytime. IPPE hours are to be reported on the SOLE IPPE Service Learning site. Students are reminded that they are on the Honor system and should only record those hours and activities that they have actually performed. Failure to do so may result in charges of academic dishonesty being brought before the Committee on Academic and Professional Integrity. The Assistant Dean for Student Services reserves the right to question the number of hours entered and make appropriate changes (increase or decrease) in the number recorded. Students who enter with an advanced standing will have their 100 hour requirement prorated as per the Assistant Dean. Updated 8/7/07