Hi All! One of our new Ambassador Coordinators, Ashley Erdmann has a blog post for you today.  Please enjoy this post on her behalf about her hospital internship.

“My Internship at Mount Carmel West

One of the greatest components of being a pharmacy student at The Ohio State University are the tremendous internship opportunities around Columbus. It seems that no matter what you are interested in, there is a perfect internship for you!

Before I started my P1 year, I had worked as a technician in a community pharmacy for over six years. I loved working in a community setting, where I got to know our patients and talk to them about not only their medications, but their lives as well. The profession of pharmacy has a large humanistic component associate with it, which is something I have always admired. However, I knew that I wanted to branch out and experience other facets of pharmacy, for I knew that it would help me become a more well-rounded professional. I decided that I wanted to obtain a hospital internship, as I am interested in residency, but had no prior hospital experience! And so, the search for internships began!

I started my internship at Mount Carmel West Hospital this past June, and since then, I have been able to perfect my aseptic technique and I have been trained in IV preparations as well as chemotherapy preparations. This has been especially useful, since I was able to get exposure in sterile compounding before we started it in P2 lab this year!

My assigned preceptor is one of  best parts of my internship. She is an OSU PharmD graduate and is a fantastic pharmacist! Whenever we work together, she quizzes me on diseases, therapy options, interactions, and contraindications. She uniquely parallels the material we are learning in class with real-life examples and discussions. I have been fortunate enough to follow her to the Emergency Department when traumas arrive in the trauma bay, to witness her calmly assist the healthcare team, dose and prepare life saving medications in a tense and chaotic environment. These experiences have helped solidify my interest in working as a hospital pharmacist, and I am now leaning toward finding an emergency medicine rotation.

In addition, as a part of my internship, I have created drug monographs to be distributed around the hospital. This activity is an especially important educational component for the nursing team! It gives them a concise but necessary amount of information on common formulary drugs distributed in the hospital.

I have been able to immerse myself in a completely new pharmacy setting which has helped me find my passion. The opportunities for pharmacy students in Columbus are endless. I am excited to develop my skills as an intern and to take on more projects. If you have any questions about internships or working for Mount Carmel, please let me know!

-Ashley

erdmann.13@osu.edu”

Given that The Ohio State University is a world-renowned research institution, it is no surprise that cutting edge research is being led by hundreds of researchers at both the Wexner Medical Center and our very own College of Pharmacy.

Before I started pharmacy school, my definition of research was fairly narrow.  I thought research was limited to laboratory experiments and expensive equipment.  While we do have many of these types of opportunities, the College of Pharmacy has faculty working on pharmacy practice research projects as well.  These projects tend to focus on how pharmacists provide care, clinical outcomes relating to pharmacists’ interventions, or some other aspect of patient care.

To provide you with some examples, I’ll tell you a little more about two of the projects I’m working on.

At the College, I’m working on a project with Dr. Alexa Valentino.  Dr. Valentino is faculty at the College, and in addition to teaching, she practices at a Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) here in Columbus.  FQHCs are primary care clinics that provide a wide range of services to under-insured or uninsured patients.  Our project is a survey-based assessment of clinical quality measures at FQHCs.  We are hoping to assess the relationship between having clinical pharmacy services as a part of the FQHC practice and a variety of clinical outcomes.  In other words, we’re curious if having a pharmacist on site to educate and counsel COPD patients on proper inhaler use improves disease management in these patients.  COPD is just one example of a clinical outcome that we are assessing; we’re actually taking a look at quite a few more!

Another project of mine is with an internal medicine pharmacist at the Wexner Medical Center.  We’ve designed a project that will assess the opioid prescribing habits of internal medicine practitioners three months before and three months after the state recommendations for prescribing opioids were updated in Ohio.  We’re hoping to use this data to look at the impact of these recommendations and to possibly inform future prescribing policies within the hospital.

The opportunity to get involved with the writing of the project proposal and data collection has been really rewarding, and I’m very excited to see what’s to come in terms of potential project posters presentations, and publications.  If you have any questions about research, please let me know!

-Victoria

williams.4020@osu.edu

Please enjoy this blog post from our new Ambassador Coordinator, Cassie Rush!

“Hi Everyone!

I don’t know about you, but fall is my favorite time of the year! From the leaves changing colors, to the cooler air and sweater weather, and of course football season, fall is a great time; and fall in Columbus is no different. So, what are some fun, fall activities in Columbus?

Enjoy the fall foliage on a hike! Columbus is littered with Metro parks that you can explore, Hocking Hills (one of Ohio’s state parks) is an hour south and full and trails to explore, or you can take a walk around campus—the Oval is located at the heart of campus and is littered with tree and green spaces to study or nap on!

Apple Picking! Lynd’s fruit farm is a Columbus favorite. They have over 80 acres to explore and allow you to pick your apples on the weekends! They also have a corn maze and market to explore and pick up some extra fall goodies at.

Circleville Pumpkin Show: While Columbus has tons of wonderful festivals that occur year-round, Circleville’s Pumpkin Show is definitely a fall experience. From the “largest pumpkin” growing contest, to all the pumpkin baked goods you could imagine and live entertainment, you really can’t go wrong.

Ohio State Football Games: Columbus, Ohio on a football Saturday is truly magical, and there is no better place to be than the Shoe. As a student, you can get tickets at a significantly discounted price so that you can experience it for yourself. And even if football isn’t your thing, game days can still be a treat! Our marching band is world renowned and puts on quite the show at half time, and before the game at skull sessions! Fans everywhere tailgate and bond over their love for our school. And at the end of every game (even if you aren’t in the stadium), you get to come together with thousands of other Buckeyes and sing Carmen (our alma mater)—it’s one of my personal favorite traditions!

So Much More! Columbus hosts tons of festivals every year, and the fall is no exception. From Mac and Cheese fest to the Italian fest and more, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Columbus also has 614 movie nights, where they show movies outside on the big screen—in the fall they tend to feature Halloween favorites like Hocus Pocus! There are tons of haunted houses, even the Statehouse participates, and Cedar Point (an amusement park near Cleveland) does Halloweekends, which Ohio State students can get discounted tickets to.

Overall, Columbus has plenty of fun fall activities to fill your weekends and evenings and help ensure you maintain a great work-life balance!

Cassie – email: rush.182@osu.edu”