Objective. To describe the use of capacity ratios following the assignment of introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) to a rising third-year pharmacy (P3) class. Methods. Practice experience availability for IPPEs was collected by means of preceptor response to requests. Following assignment of IPPEs to the rising P3 class, capacity ratios from the IPPEs available across the entire state and within each of 4 geographic zones were calculated. Capacity ratios for both community pharmacy and institutional pharmacy also were calculated. Results. The capacity ratio for IPPEs across the entire state was 2.11, which documents solvency. When the capacity ratios were calculated individually for community pharmacy and institutional pharmacy, solvency was also achieved. Likewise, IPPE capacity ratios were solvent in all 4 geographic zones. Conclusions. Capacity ratios are helpful in evaluating IPPE availability as they can be used to determine practice experience need in either type of practice experience or geographic zone.Keywords: experiential education, practice experience, capacity ratio, introductory pharmacy practice experiences, availability INTRODUCTIONThe Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education implemented new guidelines and requirements for introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) in 2007. 1 This portion of the experiential education must comprise at least 5% of the curriculum or a minimum of 300 hours. Many colleges and schools of pharmacy have had to restructure their curriculum to meet these early experiential education experiences.2 Administration of vaccinations, 3 participation in medication reconciliation, 4 interaction with real patients in the classroom, 5 and direct patient contact in hospitals and clinics for case presentations 6 have been used or suggested as a means of meeting IPPE hours in preparation for advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). Some colleges and schools of pharmacy have used a formalized practice experience in both community pharmacy and institutional pharmacy. Of the 2 mentioned, institutional pharmacy has historically been the most difficult to schedule because of the limited number of institutions available. The importance of academia working with the available institutions has been addressed in the literature.7-9 The number of pharmacy colleges and schools in the state of Tennessee expanded from 1 to 6 over a period of 4 years, creating competition for sites, especially for schools using full-time practice experiences in the IPPE program. Our college requires a fulltime commitment from students during IPPEs, including two 40-hour weeks for community IPPEs and the same for the institutional IPPEs. These 2 practice experiences take place within a calendar month. The University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy's IPPE program includes 370 hours from various courses throughout the curriculum (Table 1). The IPPE program includes 210 hours in part-time experiences and 160 hours in full-time IPPEs. The IPPE program is a compilation of various comp...