P1 internships for pharmacy school?

[greentea0588]

Ok so I'm a P1 and I need to complete 100 hours at a community pharmacy to pass my P1 year. The pharmacist manager grades me based on different skills and one of them is the ability to counsel patients. But I never took a class on OTC or Rx medications so I feel that I don't have enough knowledge to safely recommend or counsel patients on it. Actually I don't even know my role in this internship should be at all. Does other pharmacy schools require internship in retail pharmacy for P1s and if so what do you do and expected to do in these internships?

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[crazybob]

Ok so I'm a P1 and I need to complete 100 hours at a community pharmacy to pass my P1 year. The pharmacist manager grades me based on different skills and one of them is the ability to counsel patients. But I never took a class on OTC or Rx medications so I feel that I don't have enough knowledge to safely recommend or counsel patients on it. Actually I don't even know my role in this internship should be at all. Does other pharmacy schools require internship in retail pharmacy for P1s and if so what do you do and expected to do in these internships?

You should have some experience in learning how to communicate with your patients. Just think about what they would want for you to tell them while you're making a recommendations. They would probably want to know about any adverse reactions, how often to take it, what to do if they miss a dose, etc.

My school has one where it's at the end of the year in a community pharmacy. I'm not sure what all I'll be expected to learn from that since it would depend on my preceptor.

 

[bacillus1]

I didn't learn much in my 40hr community IPPE, but I do seem to be somewhat learning from my intern job (brand names for various generics and even some indications). There will be times when you "counsel" patients without needing actual drug knowledge. An example is when several patients needed instructions in Spanish and I basically explained to them the best I could in that language. Another huge area of "counseling" is therapy for colds, just asking the patient what are the symptoms and picking out the ingredients needed to relieve those symptoms, nothing less and nothing more.
Also you could be active in warning patients of acetaminophen overdose. For example, if someone buys tylenol to ask the pt if they are on vicodin, percocet, etc, and just pointing out possible liver damage if the patient takes too much.

 

[sakigt]

Have you talked to your school about this?

We are just starting to learn about counseling and as a 1st year student without any Pharmacy experience I wouldnt feel comfortable either. Right now we practice counseling each other but we arent graded necessarily on the technical information besides the basics.

Worst case you could read the information packet included with the medication and ask the patient if they understand when/how to take it. If they have any interactions questions or anything youre unsure of you can bring your supervisor into the conversation.