Illinois Pharmacy license requirements

[JYN]

Hi,

You Will Have To Call Nabp And Ask Them..

[Aussiepharmer]

This is what I received from email, their email address is FPR.PRFGROUP10@illinois.gov

My message:
I heard that Illinois recently changed the law so that 4 year foreign pharmacy graduates can be licensed in Illinois, where 4 year graduates should take 1200 hours of internship and about 400 hours for 5 year graduates. Then how can 4 year graduates take the FPGEE?(As far as I know, FPGEC requires a 5 year degree program)

Their reply
Current Illinois law requires anyone educated outside the United States to have a FPGEC certificate and complete 1200 hour course of clinical instructions regardless of the length of their program.
Illinois does not sponsor, approve or otherwise set the standards for the FPGEE as the is within the scope of the NABP. Those who applied before the law was changed have been allowed to complete their 400 hours, anyone who has not applied previously will have to complete 1200 hours.

[pharmacistgju]

what does that mean. We are eligible to take fpgee or not?

[knok]

Aussiepharmer,

It is clear that Illionois Pharmacy state board does not have authority to issue FPGEC certificate. If you don't have FPGEC certificate, it doesn't matter how long your degree is.

If you know that those who have four year degree is not allowed to take FPGEE anymore, you can switch to study in the country where they offer 5 year degree or come to the USA to study Pharm.D. program.

I saw you ask this question a few months back. Many people answered your question. Even though many of us have 5 year or 6 year degree cannot be licensed in Illinios since they cannot get the FPGEC certificate.

FPGEC certificate will be issued if you pass the requirements set by NABP.

I hope that you understand it. People here cannot change requirement about 4 or 5 year degree since now many countries including USA offer only 6 year program. Four and six years seems to be very different in length of study. My country offered 6 years program since 1997. I remember that my school put all courses together tightly. I had to take the exams on Saturday. That was the reason why my school expanded the length of study to 6 years. Also, schools add clinical pharmacy on the last year of 6 years program.

[Aussiepharmer]

Knok,

It seems that you do not understand my specific situation. Nobody actually has answered my question. I find it very complicated. As I repeat, I took prepharmacy related subjects for 1.5 years at a US university before transferring to my current four year pharmacy degree. You should know that those with four year DEGREES are eligible to sit for FPGEE if they have done at least one year of prerequisites before the pharmacy degree. The NABP requires a five year CURRICULUM. So the one year prerequisite with a four year degree qualifications are eligible. Look at Canadian & UK graduates – esp. for UK graduates, their pharmacy schools are NOT ACPE accredited. But they can sit for FPGEE because their A-levels in high school is counted within the 5 year requirement. For more info, take a look at:

http://www.pharmj.com/pdf/hp/200604/hp_200604_careers.pdf

As for my personal case, my current pharmacy school required me to take at least one year of prerequisites at a college because I was unable to meet their IB requirements. The IB(International Baccalaureate) is very similar to A-levels. Both are recognized as college credits by many US colleges, and are 2 years of duration. Since I graduated from a US high school where IB was not offered, and that I had to graduate one semester earlier than the majority of my fellows, the only way to fulfill my university prerequisites was to take at least one year of university studies.
Have a look at the admission requirements for my school website:

http://www.vcp.monash.edu.au/courses/pharmacy/index.html

High school students in Australia can take VCE or IB as prerequisites for my college of pharmacy. Foundation studies are also accepted, which is also recognized as college credits. And I’ve heard of many international students taking A-levels for entry to Australian pharmacy schools. The comparison I am making here is more focused on UK pharmacy education vs. Aussie pharmacy education. Both countries offer four year undergraduate degree with one year internship after graduation, and the internship year is not counted by NABP. The only difference is that high school students in Aus don’t take A-levels. However, mine is different to other aussie pharm schools in that college credit-equivalent prerequisites such as IB is required if you were not to choose to take VCE(VCE not counted towards 5 yrs).

http://www.msp.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/master-pharmacy/entry.html

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/phrmy/resources/UG-PHRMY-06.pdf

Take a look at these random UK pharm school admission websites above. They also accept IB as an alternative to A-levels. What I mean here is it would be ridiculous if NABP rejects A-levels/IB/college credits + 4 yr Australian degree and approves the A-levels/IB/college credits + 4 yr UK degree where both are five years total. This also means that if I am eligible for FPGEE if I transferred to a UK pharm school, but not eligible for the FPGEE if I transferred to the Australian degree, which is unreasonable.

And if you were to say that the country itself has to have a 5 year curriculum to be eligible for FPGEE, that is not true. I’ve seen a Taiwanese graduate from a 5 yr school on this forum become eligible for FPGEE even though the other schools within the country were offering four years.

From your post, you’re saying that you hope me to understand it but I can’t. I am taking more than 6 years of education for pharmacy – 1.5 years in US + 4 yr degree + 1 yr intern. If the NABP does not accept my qualification, that means I have wasted 2.5 years. It is also frustrating that 1 yr intern is recognized. Even though it has intense clinical training, it is not counted ONLY BECAUSE it is AFTER graduation. If it was included within the degree to make up to a five year degree, that it would be a different story. What’s the difference? It’s the same length of education before licensure anyway!

My point here to emphasize is that if the “1 year prerequisite PLUS four year degree” is accepted for Canadian and UK graduates in being eligible to sit for FPGEE, that rule must be applied CONSISTENTLY to Australian, NZ, and even Indian graduates. Indian graduates take 2 years of Diploma of Pharmacy PLUS their 4 year degree, but they can’t sit for FPGEE.

So what is the TRUE five year rule? The NABP is one of the most random organizations I’ve ever known.

In my perspective, you seem to imply that it’s a cake walk to transfer to a country that offers a 5 year curriculum or to a US PharmD. I have emailed several five year degree pharmacy schools in Europe(offered in English). They replied me I would have to start all the way from first year(at that time, I finished second year in Australia) even if I have all the credits.

Finally, what I would like to highlight to everyone is that it is totally fine for the NABP to stay with the five year rule, and I am NOT asking them to change this rule. However, if they were to do so, their rule should be applied equally to graduates from any country as long as the CURRICULUM is a 5 year period and that enough credit requirements are satisfied, not being selective for a particular nationality for some reason(i.e. prestige of the country, etc.)


I have not applied for FPGEE yet but have sent them an actual letter, and they replied that "Since Australia has a four year curriculum, it does not meet the FPGEE eligibility requirements." It seems like they think this is the norm.

[pharmacistgju]

Is There Any State In Usa Where International Pharmacy Graduate Who Completed Thier Education After 2003 Can Work As Pharmacist Without Clearing Fpgee Requirement

[JYN]

hi pharmacist gju,

I don't think you can work as a pharmacist without having your fpgec certificate.

[Aussiepharmer]

Originally Posted by JYN

hi pharmacist gju,

I don't think you can work as a pharmacist without having your fpgec certificate.

Yep, true for ALL states in the US.
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[fizzbizz]

Hi,
I wanted to know the ece evaluation report that I have to send to Illinois idfpr board..
1) does it have to be general or course by course?
2. do I have to ask ece to mail ii directly to idfpr or do i have to mail it myself along with other documents?

Oh and by the way, I had called the no. 2177828556 idfpr to ask these queries.
The first time, I called and ask the requirements. The operator lady answered my queriries politely.
but I had forgotten to ask abt my ece doubts.

So I had to call again. Ihe second time I called I got hold of her after 45 minutes and when I ask the requirements again she hung up on me.

The next day , that is today, I called again and she hung up on me again. How rude! made me seeth with anger.
Also made me realise how tough it is to be a foreigner here.
Well hats off to all the people who make success here because its really a tough ordeal making it through all the racism and hatred that lingers around us.

Does anyone know where I can complain about her rude behavior?
Thanks for the support.
Take care.
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[JYN]

Hi fizzbizz,

You need the course to course evaluation and you will have to mail it with the rest of your documents. I am in that process right now. I'm just waiting for ece to mail it to me. I called them and supposedly I should be getting them today. I paid extra to get them quicker though. It is tough out here for foreign grads. good luck! where are you from in illinois?