I would like to share a little about my hospital inpatient internship.
I began my internship with Riverside Methodist Hospital inpatient pharmacy the summer before starting pharmacy school. I had previous work experience in a community pharmacy but thought hospital would be a better fit and wanted to gain more insight. I spent the summer training in various positions such as unit dose dispensing, IV preparations, and medication reconciliation. When autumn semester began, I started a regular schedule working 8 hour shifts on Saturday/Sunday every other weekend and one 4 hour shift on a weekday evening, which averages 8-12 hours per week. I gained experience working both first (6:30am-3:00pm) and second (2:30pm-11:00pm) shifts. While this schedule continued throughout the year, I had more time in the summer to pick up extra work shifts, get trained in new positions and shadow pharmacists in different specialties. Through this internship I have been able to learn the differences between community and inpatient hospital pharmacy workflow. I have also explored pharmacists’ roles in formulary management, administration, responding to codes, clinical research, and multi-disciplinary teams. This past summer I was involved in more clinical tasks such as evaluating patient cases and dosing medications like vancomycin and warfarin. These clinical experiences complement my learning in the classroom as I have been able to directly apply skills to real patient cases. My internship has also encouraged me to get involved with protocol development and clinical research. I am currently collecting data for a project focused on anticoagulant reversal agents. Over the past three years, I have learned a lot about pharmacy and myself, including the career I wish to pursue. So my recommendations are to explore and keep an open mind about your career.
-TaLeitha