Lessons · Pharmacy · the intern hours, and who sets the number
The intern hours, and the fact that nobody can quote you the number
Before a candidate may be licensed a state requires a quantity of supervised practice hours, served as an intern under a licensed pharmacist. How many is set by each state, and the figures genuinely differ between them.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a licensed pharmacist. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
It is the requirement that decides whether a plan is possible, and it is the one most often quoted from a friend who qualified somewhere else. Hours are also the requirement that cannot be compressed at the end: a shortfall found in the final month is months of work, not an afternoon of paperwork. Students who register their hours late, or with the wrong supervisor, sometimes find that time they actually worked does not count.
How to think about it
Find your own state's figure at the start rather than the end, and find out at the same time how hours must be recorded and who is allowed to supervise them. Then keep your own running total. Do my recorded hours match what I think I have worked, and would the board agree? Boards set these rules and change them, so any figure you plan around has to come from your own board's page rather than from here or from somebody who qualified in a different year.
Worked example
A quantity of supervised practiceServed as an intern, under a licensed pharmacist.
The number is the state's to setThere is no national figure, which is why a friend's answer may not be yours.
How they are recorded matters as muchUnrecorded or wrongly supervised time can fail to count even though it was worked.
Cannot be made up quicklyThis is months, not paperwork, which is why the total is worth watching from the start.
Your turn
Name who decides how many supervised practice hours are required.
The number of hours is set by each
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Taking the number from somebody who qualified elsewhere. It is one of the requirements that really is different between two people in the same graduating class who intend to work in different states. Boards set these rules and change them, so any figure you plan around has to come from your own board's page rather than from here or from somebody who qualified in a different year.