My First Year Professional Program Student

I have graciously been given the opportunity to broaden my horizons and learn a variety of practices in the pharmaceutical environment. Since the October of 2017 I have been employed at Hoey Apothecary under the care and teaching of many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. At Hoey Apothecary I work as a pharmacy assistant, and only because of the Youth Apprenticeship Program that Monona Grove High School has offered to it’s students. During my time in the program I having developed a variety of skills and learned the inner works of the cooperation between the technicians and pharmacists. Specifically as an assistant, I am tasked with the responsibilities of; ensuring that the patients are receiving the correct prescription, at the right time,

The twenty-five stories that are contained in the book, My First Year As A Teacher, are about real teachers and their experiences during the first year of teaching. Each story is different. Some are about memorable students while other stories are about some of the hardships that are encountered as a novice teacher. The diverse sampling of stories in this book gives insight of what kind of problems one might encounter as a teacher, yet they also describe how rewarding the profession can be. I found it rather difficult to choose only ten stories as my favorite but after much consideration and rereading I decided on the following stories because in many ways I could relate to the students as well as the teachers that are given life in these stories.

My Butler University academic training and intern experience has positioned me to recognize and appreciate the essential role performed by the clinical pharmacist. Although sometimes transparent, it is the clinical pharmacist that is central to a patient’s ultimate successful recovery. This was evident during my clinical rotations, where I directly participated in the optimization of medication therapy to achieve patient-specific outcomes; it is for this reason I am impassioned and compelled to pursue a residency. As a PGY-1 resident, I plan to apply my clinical knowledge in the acute and ambulatory care settings to identify medication-related problems and make therapeutic recommendations in collaboration with other practitioners. Upon completion

During my internship, I could apply the knowledge and skills learned from my core courses. This experience will allow me to work with John Hopkins Outpatient Pharmacy Operations Manager, Toni Carter-Radden and Johns Hopkins Clinical Infusion Pharmacy Manager, Michael Grimes and acquire insights into the management through observation, participation, and practical application of administrative skills.

During the two and a half years of my pharmacy journey, I have been thinking what can a pharmacist do within the healthcare interprofessional team to better help the patients in order to achieve the best health outcome. I work in a clinic as well as inpatient pharmacy, additionally, I had my rotations at CVS and Regions Hospital. all these experiences shape my version of the pharmacists at different settings. Therefore, in various pharmacy settings, pharmacists can work differently with the whole healthcare team. The recent PED-Rx events inspired me how important pharmacists can play roles in when working in a team.

My interest in the PGY1 Residency Program at Kaiser Permanente Orange County has been sparked by my attraction to the field of hospital pharmacy. More specifically, I am interested in an inpatient hospital pharmacy experience that the Kaiser Permanente provides. During summer 2017, I was an intern pharmacist at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, and I learned a lot about the pharmacist’s role in a hospital setting. After completing that rotation, I hoped I could learn more about the pharmacist’s role in a hospital setting. The reason I am more interested in residency program at Kaiser Permanente is many different kinds of experiences that Kaiser provides, such as Ambulatory Care, and Drug Use Management.

I have spent my time as a student pharmacist learning about opportunities within clinical pharmacy and making certain that I was equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. In my pursuit, I became an active member of pharmaceutical organizations, held multiple leadership positions, attended clinical conferences, established research projects, participated in community service events, and other initiatives. I excelled academically, which was manifested in not just a high academic standard but also in tutoring fellow classmates and arranging sessions with other pharmacy students to help them improve time management and study skills. I shadowed pharmacists and residents before my advanced pharmacy practice experiences commenced to discover which areas of clinical pharmacy I found intriguing. I have obtained valuable pharmacy practice experiences in five specialties thus far including inpatient internal medicine, long term acute care, geriatrics and telehealth, and primary care. Through these rotations, I built upon the knowledge I acquired from my didactic courses but also developed patient-centered approaches and strengthened my clinical skills. I enjoyed many aspects of my rotations, including contributing pharmacotherapy recommendations, providing patient education, attending rounds and interdisciplinary team meetings – all of which have solidified my desire

At the start of my pharmacy school career, I was encouraged to make three smart goals that I would like to accomplish during this journey. My first smart goal was to be more involved in pharmacy related activities. Going to the health screening training is one of the co‐ curricular activities that had a profound impact on my learning experience. The health screening training was done by APHA on the Palm Beach campus in the compounding lab during the Fall of 2016. The health screening training was a learning experience that aims to prepare students for a health fair event. Also, the main purpose of this event was to prepare pharmacy student on the proper way to conduct a health screening and the proper way to evaluate patients during that process.

The idea behind our proposal stems from a monumental event that occurred two years ago where student pharmacists from our College were able to successfully lobby Hawai`i state legislators to allow pharmacy students to receive their intern license at the beginning of their first year of school. Prior to this, the Hawai`i Board of Pharmacy dictated that student pharmacists could only receive their intern licenses upon completion of their first year. Members of the local APhA-ASP Chapter felt that the lack of an intern license hindered their professional development. In hopes of changing current legislation, they decided to initiate a project to gather information regarding pharmacy intern laws across all 50 states. This data was compiled together and presented to Hawai`i Board of Pharmacy members. It was discovered that Hawai`i was one of 9

My IPPE Institutional was at St. Joseph Mercy Health System, a part of Trinity Health. I was fortunate to be assigned to this location and with my preceptor as it has impacted the way I view hospital pharmacy and the profession as whole. My preceptor is the director of the hospital’s Pharmacy residency program and she has an established curriculum/schedule for IPPE and APPE students from Pharmacy Colleges in South East Michigan and some part of Ohio. As part of my experience, I shadowed and had some hands on experience in inpatient pharmacy, oncology pharmacy (Chemotherapy department), investigational drug department, aseptic compounding, and drug acquisition and distribution. I also went on rounds with Surgical Intensive care team, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department and attended various inter-professional committee meetings, ground round, policy review meetings and medication safety meetings.

Attached for your review are my job responsibilities during my internship in River’s Edge Specialty pharmacy. During my internship in River’s Edge Specialty, I served various type of patients: cancer patients, HIV patients, Hepatitis C patients, patients living in long term care facilities and nursing homes, as well as typical outpatients. River’s Edge Specialty practice incorporates elements of both the typical community and institutional functions and thus working on River’s Edge Specialty enriched my in both

In my NUR-301 Class, I had the opportunity to practice on Interprofessional Education. Our nursing student team was partnered with first year pharmacy school students to learn about each other professions and to study on how we could work in a team of healthcare professionals to attain a common goal. As this was my first time experience to meet other students from a different department of Notre Dame of Maryland University, I was not sure what to expect from our discussions. Even if I have some experiences working both in hospitals and in a pharmacy, I was no fully aware of the responsibilities of a pharmacist directly to the patient or to the healthcare field specialists.

As I reflect on my experience of a pharmacy practice, I realize how much of my personality has changed in only few months. The experiences I gained during my first rotation at Walgreens were particularly rewarding, especially those gained while working as a team to achieve a common goal of a patient’s well-being. I did not have any previous experience in the pharmacy setting, therefore I was determined to take advantage of this opportunity to grow and develop skills that are vital to be a good pharmacist. During the rotation, I performed many activities that were assigned by the preceptor, learned new skills and competencies, identified my strengths and weaknesses, and made plans for continued development throughout the journey of pharmacy practice.

Responsibilities as a pharmacy intern include: receiving new prescriptions and transfers, interpreting prescriptions for accuracy and appropriateness, processing insurance claims, dispensing medication, administering immunizations, administrative duties, and inventory control. During my time as an intern, I have heightened my understanding and communication with patients from diverse backgrounds, including Spanish-speaking patients. The opportunity to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients is integral in my goal of becoming a bilingual practitioner to serve as a resource for the most patients. In addition, I have progressed to autonomously making over-the-counter recommendations, and providing education to customers

This semester has been a tough one but I feel like I have learned a lot about pharmacy over these past few months. I have had a lot of courses so far and in each one, I have been able to make connections to the practice of pharmacy. In this essay, I will reflect on some of things I learned in my courses and how they relate to my future career as a pharmacist. I will also identify areas where certain topics intersect in different courses.