Pharmacy students typically endure four years of complex, rigorous learning, after which they receive their Doctor of Pharmacy degree and move on to a career doling out medications and improving patients' lives.
As literature from the University of Tampa explains, pharmacy students must also get a Bachelor's, typically in a scientific field that prepares them for a pharmacology-intensive curriculum thereafter. This means eight years of study, a long span of time during which much can go wrong.
If you experience difficulty at any point in your eight years of study, hiring Attorney-Advisor Joseph D. Lento could prove to be a career-saving move. Whether you have difficulty progressing, face allegations of misconduct, or have another issue that threatens your record and potentially your graduation, the Lento Law Firm can help.
Pharmacy Students Endure Rigorous Academic Curricula, and These Academic Challenges May Require You to Actively Seek a Resolution
There are two primary academic-related issues that could threaten your pharmacy education and career:
- Academic underperformance
- Allegations of academic misconduct
When it comes to alleged misconduct, pharmacy students can be falsely accused of wrongdoing. In some cases, pharmacy students knowingly or unknowingly violate their program's academic code of conduct. In either case, our firm's Nationwide Education Defense Team will work to help you move past a misconduct complaint and forward with your academic career.
When it comes to academic underperformance, you may deserve empathy and forgiveness from your nursing program. Pharmacy students face:
- Eight years (or more) of intensive scientific and medical education, which can be intellectually exhausting
- An ultra-competitive field in which students are constantly seeking an edge over their peers
- The financial cost of pursuing an advanced degree
- Various other pressures stemming from your education and personal life
Schools do not always weigh students' unique circumstances before levying sanctions. We will ensure that your school hears your story and deals with you in good faith.
How We May Help You Overcome Academic Difficulty During Your Time in Pharmacy School
Academic struggles are anything but rare among pharmacy students. If you face remediation, probation, suspension, or dismissal from your pharmacy program (or undergraduate institution) because of academic difficulty, our team can:
- Petition for any grade change that may prevent formal sanctions
- Negotiate remediation or another resolution if you face potential suspension or expulsion
- Seek special accommodations that may foster better academic performance going forward
- Pursue any other resolution that will provide immediate or long-term relief
Our options for resolving your situation may depend, at least in part, on your program's policies. Students who struggle academically at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, for example, may:
- Remediate specific examinations, which may include reviewing lecture materials and retaking examinations that they underperformed on
- Retake an entire course
Your academic standing and the program's course offerings will determine which options are available to you.
While remediation could be a viable option for students facing harsher consequences like dismissal, those faced with remediation may want to avoid it if possible. A grade change, for example, may spare you from having remediation on your record and prevent any graduation delays that remediation would cause.
Types of Alleged Academic Misconduct That Could Threaten Your Academic Career
Pharmacy students face the same academic challenges, pressure to rise to the top of their class, and temptations to cut corners that all students face. The financial pressures and heightened competition amongst pharmacy students may lead some to:
- Receive outside help with assignments
- Seek and receive test materials in advance of an examination
- Fabricate data
- Use electronic devices to complete exams or other coursework
- Provide assistance to other students for monetary gain
- Use artificial intelligence technology to complete coursework
Even so, a study from Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning found that 75% of pharmacy educators had never seen an Honor Code violation. Pharmacy students are generally honest, but a mere allegation of misconduct could jeopardize your reputation and graduation.
How Attorney Joseph Lento Can Help You with Allegations of Academic Misconduct in Pharmacy School (or Undergraduate Studies)
Each pharmacy program has its own policies regarding academic integrity violations. Being found responsible for academic misconduct may lead to:
- A formal reprimand
- Failure in a course
- Behavioral probation
- Suspension
- Dismissal
Before you are hit with these kinds of sanctions, though, a pharmacy program must provide you with due process. Adjudication measures will vary from program to program but may typically include:
- An investigation
- The opportunity for an informal resolution
- A hearing
- An appeals process (if necessary)
The Lento Law Firm Team will guide you through any adjudication process that lies ahead. We may:
- Negotiate directly with your nursing program's attorneys (known as the Office of General Counsel) to resolve the issue amicably
- Accompany you in any interviews or meetings related to alleged misconduct
- Accompany you to any hearings related to alleged misconduct, at which time we may question witnesses, present testimony, and combat any arguments levied against you
- Handle any necessary appeals for you
At the University of California-San Francisco's School of Pharmacy, an Academic Dean has broad discretion over how to handle allegations of academic misconduct. Students may resolve the issue directly with the Dean or undergo a hearing, about which UCSF provides great detail. Your nursing program may have similar options for adjudicating alleged academic misconduct.
Our firm will quickly determine which processes lie ahead and how we can help you fight for the best possible outcome in a difficult situation.
Clinicals Are a Key (But Challenging) Feature of a Pharmacy Education
The University of Wisconsin-Madison explains that pharmacy students may engage in part- and full-time clinical experiences throughout their post-secondary education. At UW-Madison, a pharmacy student must:
- Work directly with practicing pharmacists in a “community setting”
- Engage in community outreach activities
- Partner with an older individual and tend to their pharmacological needs
- Work with a practicing pharmacist in an institutional setting
By their fourth year, pharmacy students at UW-Madison work full-time in a professional setting. Johns Hopkins Medicine explains that pharmacy students may complete rotations pertaining to specific specialties. You can expect to be evaluated in some form or fashion as you complete the clinical aspects of your pharmacy education.
Potential Issues Pharmacy Students May Encounter During Clinical Rotations
Clinical rotations often present pharmacy students with new, sometimes profound challenges, including:
- The first time operating in a real-world pharmacological environment
- Interactions with customers and patients who have little patience for a student's inexperience
- High expectations from instructors who are also operating in a professional setting
- The necessity of balancing academic concepts with real-world clinical demands
Clinical rotations are meant to put pharmacy students to the test. Pharmacy students are human, though, which means there is a real likelihood that you may struggle with various aspects of your clinical rotations.
When academic, behavioral, or professional difficulties threaten to compromise your performance record, it may be time to lean on our firm for help.
What Happens When a Pharmacy Student Struggles with Clinical Assessments?
Pacific University Oregon School of Pharmacy explains that students must complete evaluations based on their clinical rotations. For each rotation, a pharmacy student must receive a score of 2 or greater on a four-point scale. Should a student fail a clinical assessment, they may have to:
- Retake the assessment
- Retake the entire rotation
- Submit to whatever criteria the program requires for the student to continue to the next step of their education
Repeated failure of clinical evaluations could expose you to suspension, dismissal, and other undesirable consequences that may diminish your future as a pharmacist.
How the Lento Law Firm Team Can Help You Address Progression Problems During Clinicals
A clinical educator may issue an initial evaluation, but higher-ups at your pharmacy program may need to validate the score before it enters your record. Attorney Joseph Lento may be able to intervene during this interval, potentially negotiating a re-evaluation of your performance.
The right solution to a clinical progression problem varies from one pharmacy student to the next. Potential resolutions include:
- Retaking an assessment if the original score does not accurately reflect your comprehension of clinical practices and concepts
- Instigating a re-scoring of your original assessment
- Another course of action that helps you avoid damaging consequences, or at least reduces the severity of consequences
We'll work with administrators at your pharmacy program to explore your options. Evaluators make mistakes, and there is a solution to be had—let our team find that solution for you.
What Happens When a Pharmacy Student Is Accused of Unprofessionalism During Clinicals?
Professionalism is a point of evaluation for every pharmacy student. West Virginia University School of Pharmacy lists “professionalism” as one of five criteria for evaluating (and promoting) pharmacy students.
You may be evaluated for:
- Your communication with peers, patients, customers, and instructors (who may be practicing pharmacists)
- Your dress
- Your general demeanor when dealing with patients and customers
- Your ability to grasp and apply concepts
- Your willingness to accept feedback
- Your timeliness
Any perceived unprofessionalism may prevent you from successfully completing a clinical rotation. This could delay your graduation or prove damaging in other ways.
How the Lento Law Firm Team Can Help You With an Allegation of Unprofessionalism During Clinicals
Professionalism is, to some degree, a subjective criterion. We may be able to cast doubt on any allegations that you've acted unprofessionally. In doing so, we may prompt a re-evaluation of your performance and help you avoid consequences that would come from allegations of unprofessional conduct.
We may make our case by:
- Providing your account of any circumstances in which your professionalism has been questioned
- Providing testimony from parties who have witnessed your professional demeanor
- Providing evidence that an allegation of unprofessionalism stems from bias, inaccurate information, or any other basis that is not fact
Your pharmacy program may have a specific process for appealing a critical evaluation. Our team will explore such processes and, if we need to, negotiate with your program's Office of General Counsel for a more direct solution.
Didactic Learning May Be Integral to Your Pharmacy Education
Programs that include high-level scientific and medical study, including pharmacy, may have didactic learning sessions. These are typically weekly sessions in which instructors help students synthesize their academic coursework and the experiences they face in clinicals.
If didactics are a feature of your pharmacy education, we can help with any didactic-specific problems you encounter.
Our Team Can Help With Any Didactic Issues Pharmacy Students Experience
We help students who are struggling with didactics, perhaps because of:
- A lack of accommodations for physical or learning disabilities
- Unfair or inaccurate evaluations of their work during didactics
- Difficulty retaining information taught during didactics
- Any other problem
Didactic learning is not always graded. However, you are completing didactics for a good reason. The information you receive during these learning sessions could be pivotal to your success in pharmacy school.
If there is any way that the Lento Law Firm Team can help you succeed in didactics (and there may be), we'll work hard for a resolution that benefits you.
Why Should Pharmacy Students Hire the Lento Law Firm?
The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team prides itself on helping students who find themselves in difficult situations. Pharmacy students, in particular, have displayed dedication and high performance, and a mistake, difficult period in life, or misunderstanding should not put a dent in your professional ambitions.
Our firm:
- Understands the complex nature of pharmacy student issues
- Is familiar with pharmacy schools across the nation
- Knows the urgency with which an attorney-advisor must handle pharmacy student issues, as potential sanctions may be looming
- Works directly with pharmacy programs' administrators and legal counselors to find solutions for our clients
We will ensure that you receive due process. You'll be able to focus on your education while we resolve the issue that you face.
Call the Lento Law Firm Today for Effective Representation
Our team is always available to speak with you. Call the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or submit your case information online, and we'll reach out.
