Make the Most of Your Internship

One of the student forums on the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists had a post that said this:

"I was so grateful when I was chosen to be a retail Intern for a large retail store in my area.  I have a limited pharmacy background and thought this would enhance my Pharmacy education.  I spent two summers primarily counting pills and cashing out customers.  When I arrived in the morning, all the techs scattered and the Pharmacist told me to count for a while.  Eight hours later, I was still counting.  On my last day, a temporary pharmacist arrived.  She was amazed I had not done some basic pharmacist's duties.  It is very obvious how frustrated I became during this time.

I agree an Internship should have specific goals for both the Intern and the Pharmacist.  Both should be accountable for what the Intern is learning or not learning."


Having been a pharmacy technician for just over 2 years before being promoted to intern, I felt I had to respond with my 2 cents. I think it's a very important lesson as a professional to make the most of your situation.

When you're in community pharmacy, it's [mostly] all about pushing scripts, making budget, meeting metrics. And while most people feel that in a retail setting, pharmacists are just verification robots that don't use any of their clinical knowledge, that couldn't be more false. In fact, community pharmacists must utilize a much broader range of their knowledge than those in a clinical specialty.

But I digress...

When I was promoted to intern, there were only a couple more additional duties I was allowed to do: prescription transfers, taking phone-in prescriptions, and taking voicemail prescriptions.

However, it's not just additional duties, but the status of Intern and PharmD Candidate that indicates you are a professional. Pharmacists expect you to have the initiative and drive to work at a higher level. You are lucky to be in the presence of your own personal tutor for 6-8 hours at a time. In many instances, your pharmacist is easier to talk to than your professors.

Here is a list of ways to get out of the "technician rutt":
-Come to work with a couple of questions in mind from class.
-Ask about your pharmacist's personal experiences
-When filling scripts, quiz yourself on brand/generic/classes/indications
-When the pharmacist is counseling/answering a question, stop what you're doing and listen
-If a patient asks you a question, practice your communication skills
-When typing multiple scripts for a patient, try to think about their disease states (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hormone replacement, HIV, etc.)
-Look past "corporate policy" attitude and figure out the health care advantages to them.

As you can see, there are a number of things you can do to make the most of what may seem like a monotonous, repetitive job.

Remember that when you become a pharmacist, in order to effectively lead, you need to know every position.

Might as well start at the bottom :)

Starbuck's on a Sunday

Today, Errol and I are working Sunday together at CVS. On weekend days, there are only 2 technicians and a pharmacist (or in today's case, 1 technician, 1 intern, and 1 pharmacist... sometimes I forget I'm an intern. But because hours were cut at the start of the new year and intern hours had to be used from the store instead of corporate, I start 2 hours later than Errol.

So I took the time to go to Starbuck's to be extremely productive! And it worked. I've done my homework, even done assigned reading, and am on a roll for a very good day.

Yesterday was also a very good day. Spent some money to get a couple of things for the apartment, and I think it's finally able to have guests. Sounds awful I know, but we still had a couple of boxes in a corner that hadn't been put away. We bought a microwave card to place just outside of the kitchen. Now we have more counter space in our TINY kitchen, which is now the new home of my Keurig and Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which had be sadly placed on top of water cooler in the dining room.

We bought an ice scraper for our cars, which I don't think we'll need but Errol insisted on purchasing.

And we went on a nice walk on one of the many beautiful trails in Chapel Hill.

AND we made a pizza topped with mozzarella, artichoke hearts, tomato slices, and salami. YUM.

I love this new version of me, the one who [so far] hasn't procrastinated, is exercising/being active on a regular basis, and NOT BEING LAZY.

We will see how long this lasts, but I'm feeling good!

Blondies

Worked today from 8am-2pm so I got out at a really good time with my day very free!

So what did I do?

Well, for one thing, I passed out for 2 hours.

Then I looked through my cookbooks, because it makes me happy.

I decided on blonde brownies, but didn't want to make too much so I halved the recipe. The pans I had were too big for my small amount of batter, that resulted, so I put them in my mini cupcake pan. Then I topped them with almonds, which I found to be a yummy touch.

The difference between blonde and chocolate brownies is that instead of chocolate, blonde ones use brown sugar.

Simple ingredients 

mmm buttah (and sugah)

Final Product! 

And while you may be thinking: Erin, what about your pledge to eat healthy? 

Well, that's why they're mini... portion control :)