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Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy
Finding Your Future Through An Internship
College Connection
by Kaitlin Hitt, MS, P1, ICHP Professional Development Chair; Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy
The transition from pharmacy technician to a pharmacy student intern is a very exciting one. All we can think about is the responsibility and importance that comes with the new title. As pharmacy students, we have watched our pharmacy mentors take verbal orders from health care providers over the phone, administer vaccinations, and provide excellent medication advice. Every shift we work, we grow more excited to expand our roles as pharmacy interns. This could mean additional opportunities to be more involved within the pharmacy and to learn more about our profession.
Pharmacy students are incredibly lucky, as we have numerous opportunities to practice at the height of our pharmacy intern license. The most common internship available to us is one within a community pharmacy setting. Student pharmacy interns can counsel patients on medication questions, administer vaccinations, and clarify orders with healthcare providers via phone - all under the supervision of the pharmacist. Community pharmacies offer experiences for pharmacy students that can be carried throughout one’s professional lifetime. For example, community pharmacists will encourage their interns to recognize brand and generic names of medications or determine if medication dose times are affected by meals. Additionally, students may be asked to look into drug-drug interactions and much more! The learning opportunities are endless when it comes to working in a community pharmacy.
There are many pharmacy students who find that their interests lie outside of community pharmacy. There are internships available for these students as well that open up a tremendous amount of opportunities. I have had the great opportunity to work at Rush University Medical Center located on the West Side of Chicago. Within the inpatient pharmacy, students first learn the workflow of the pharmacy as well as the roles of the different individuals within the department. Interns quickly recognize the importance of each pharmacy technician's job. These include restocking medication within the hospital, delivering patient specific medications to the patient floors, or compounding medications in the central pharmacy. Within any pharmacy setting, it is vital that the pharmacy student intern appreciates the imperative roles of the technician within the pharmacy.
The pharmacy student intern roles and opportunities will continue to expand year after year within hospital as well as community settings. Interns within the hospital setting are trained for various roles such as intravenous medication preparation, filling medications, and medication reconciliation for newly admitted patients within the hospital. Student pharmacy interns can also shadow various pharmacy specialists and work with clinical pharmacists on clinical or data-based research projects. Students can learn what it is like to be a critical care pharmacist in the Intensive Care Unit or how to understand serum drug levels and what it means to conduct a retrospective study. An internship within an inpatient pharmacy can open up doors to careers that a student had not heard of previously.
What makes the profession of pharmacy so exhilarating is the abundant opportunities presented to us throughout our professional careers. Such opportunities include working within a community setting, a hospital setting, ambulatory care setting, industry, and many more. It is important to recognize that we are not limited within this profession and one must continue to be open to various opportunities in order to grow professionally. As students, we often look to our preceptors and pharmacists with the hope of becoming as efficient as they are with daily tasks. As interns, this is our chance to practice at the height of our pharmacy student intern license.
Students should seek out new internship opportunities - whether within a community setting, outpatient setting, hospital setting, or even industry. Internships can help pave the way for personal professional development as well help one determine career goals and interests.
