www.wjpr.net Vol 6, Issue 17, 2017. 216 Husaini et al. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research PHARMACIST FROM DAY 1: INTRODUCING UNIVERSITY OF BELIZE PHARMACY STUDENTS TO EARLY PHARMACY PRACTICE Danladi Chiroma Husaini*, Lydia Harris-Thurton and Yusuf Abubakar Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Nursing, Allied Health and Social Work, University of Belize. ABSTRACT Introduction: It is widely accepted that exposure to extracurricular experiences contributes to the development of values, skills, and knowledge enhancing the overall learning process. The University of Belize (UB) 3-year professional associate degree pharmacy training program incorporates two major experiential learning experiences in the course of its 3-year training. The current practice where UB pharmacy students go for their first practicum at the end of year two of training presented challenges to both the students and the pharmacists (preceptors). Lack of basic pharmacy skills commensurate with a second-year pharmacy trainee and the somewhat high expectations of the preceptors for performance called for an intervention by providing students with an early opportunity to acquire basic pharmacy skills before the official designated end of year 2 practicum. Methods: Students were assigned a minimum of 42 (1 st exposure) and a maximum of 72 (2 nd exposure) clock hours to volunteer at an approved community or hospital pharmacy of their choice. A checklist of expectations was agreed upon and same shared with preceptors. At the end of the assigned hours, the pharmacist submitted reports on the performance of the student while the student submitted reflection papers on their experiences using semi-structured reflection themes. The reports and the reflection papers were then evaluated for a grade. Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results were presented in charts and tables as thematic representations while the grades for the students were presented as mean for each year. Independent samples t-tests were used to examine differences between group grade variables. Results: Students reported engaging in various activities (filled prescriptions, shelve organization, dispensed prescriptions, etc) *Corresponding Author Danladi Chiroma Husaini Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Nursing, Allied Health and Social Work, University of Belize. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research SJIF Impact Factor 7.523 Volume 6, Issue 17, 216-228. Research Article ISSN 2277– 7105 Article Received on 02 Nov. 2017, Revised on 23 Nov. 2017, Accepted on 14 Dec. 2017 DOI: 10.20959/wjpr201717-10486