PharmD APPE Rotation Abroad: Pharmacy Spanish Immersion
An elective international APPE rotation in Costa Rica and Ecuador, combining pharmacy Spanish, community health work, and shadowing a local pharmacist.
This rotation is an approved elective in PharmD programs across the United States, and it is open to practicing pharmacists who want to build their Spanish as well.
Get All the APPE Details in 20 Minutes
Everything about the rotation, the timing, the placements, and the Spanish, in one quick info video.
Timing and Length
When
Once a year, late June through July and early August. This falls in APPE Block 2 for the universities we work with in Colorado.
Length
The full immersion program runs five weeks. Many APPE rotations are six-week blocks, and most PharmD students rotate for five weeks and use the sixth for travel. If your program needs different dates, contact us and we will look at what we can accommodate.
What You Will Be Doing
Pharmacy Spanish instruction
Roughly 20 hours a week at our partner language school, set to your level, focused on the vocabulary and patient communication you will actually use.
Community health outreach
Tuesday through Thursday, working alongside the rest of the immersion cohort delivering health education in underserved communities. Topics are ones the communities have asked us to cover, and you prepare them during pre-departure preparation.
Shadowing a local pharmacist
Time in a retail pharmacy setting, seeing how pharmacy practice works in a different health system, with different constraints, different medication access, and different patient expectations.
Living with a host family
One student per household, so your Spanish keeps developing after class ends.
Why Pharmacy Students Take This Rotation
Pharmacists are often the most accessible healthcare professional a patient has, and for Spanish-speaking patients that access depends entirely on language. Counseling on adherence, side effects, or a change in regimen requires more Spanish than a phrase list provides.
This rotation puts you in the position of doing that work in Spanish, every day, with support, before you are doing it alone behind a counter.
You also see a pharmacy system that operates under different resource constraints than the one you trained in, which tends to change how people think about medication access when they come home.
No Spanish Prerequisite
There is no Spanish minimum. Instruction is set to your actual level, so this rotation is open to students who have never formally studied Spanish as well as those who are already conversational.
Where You Will Be
Programs run in Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica, a residential suburb north of San José, and in Cuenca, Ecuador. Some structures include both.
The Interprofessional Cohort
You will be rotating alongside medical, nursing, PA and public health students rather than only other pharmacy students. Working through a community health project with a mixed cohort, in a second language, is the closest most students get to genuine interprofessional practice before they graduate.
APPE Rotation Pricing
Ecuador APPE Rotation
4-week: $4,675
5-week: $5,675
6-week: $6,589
5-week: $5,675
6-week: $6,589
Costa Rica APPE Rotation
4-week: $4,675
5-week: $5,675
6-week: $6,589
5-week: $5,675
6-week: $6,589
What else should you budget for?
Credit and Paperwork
Your institution awards the APPE credit. We complete the documentation your program requires, including course descriptions for submission and any forms your experiential education office needs.
Register with enough lead time for us to complete the formal submission process on your behalf.
If you are a PharmD candidate looking for an international IPPE or APPE experience, download and submit this course description to your program.
Accreditation and Support
Our medical Spanish immersion programs are CME and CE accredited. Every program includes 24 hour leadership, coordination and support from program leaders in country, plus daily on-site mentorship.
For Pharmacy Schools
If you are placing multiple APPE candidates or building a recurring rotation, see our faculty-led global health rotations page or request a proposal.
What Participants Say
Frequently Asked Questions
Reserve Your Spot
Reserve your spot, or schedule a call. Related programs: medical, nursing, PA and NP rotations, public health practicum, and all international rotations.
