The official rotation thread

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Bbed said:
good info! if you had to do it over again, what would have you done differently?
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trailerpark said:
He seems very motivated. I'd say Medical School.
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Thanks! Yes, Medical School would have been a reasonable choice, but I am also content with where I am today. Pharmacy is a great career and I love what I do. I am sure I would have made more sacrafices if I have chosen the medical route. Many of the medical interns and residence I interact with are bummed out about not having enough time for family and friends.
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2013pharmer said:
congrats! did you choose your rotation on your chance of getting a job afterward?
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50% is what you know and the other 50% is your personality. This is your chance to impress your potential employers. Everyone should be gunning for a job
 
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Hello everyone, what rotation sites are likely to hire their students?
 
2013pharmer said:
Hello everyone, what rotation sites are likely to hire their students?
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Retail, community, long term care. It is important to make connection and show them what you know. Even if there is no position, they can tell other employers about you.
 
Bbed said:
Retail, community, long term care. It is important to make connection and show them what you know. Even if there is no position, they can tell other employers about you.
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Which type of setting(s) did you get your job offer(s), and which one did you choose?
 
Looking back, is there a rotation you wish you had taken?
 
Not really, I knew I wanted to work retail and I knew where I wanted to work, so I got 3 rotations with that store and I got really job offer I wanted. If I was going to do something else I would have maybe wanted to do more industry stuff, but I didn't really want it that much
 
RimzyA said:
Not really, I knew I wanted to work retail and I knew where I wanted to work, so I got 3 rotations with that store and I got really job offer I wanted. If I was going to do something else I would have maybe wanted to do more industry stuff, but I didn't really want it that much
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your school let you do 3 rotations at the same store? my school doesn't even let us do two retail rotations
 
RimzyA said:
Not really, I knew I wanted to work retail and I knew where I wanted to work, so I got 3 rotations with that store and I got really job offer I wanted. If I was going to do something else I would have maybe wanted to do more industry stuff, but I didn't really want it that much
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Btw, how many rotations did you have to do?
 
Sometimes I wish I signed up for a full compounding rotation since some states have compounding exams and it seems to be becoming a bigger issue in pharmacy regulation. Most of my rotations have been clinical/research focused. I regret it a little because now I'm going to work for a year while I sort out what I want to do (residency, more school, etc.) Then again, I feel like I'm learning much more than some of my friends who opted for "easier" rotations.
 
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Bbed said:
good info! if you had to do it over again, what would have you done differently?
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I don't see why this guy didn't pursue medicine

I would expect something like "my first crackhead drug seeker experience" from someone who really wanted to be an RPh.
 
Digsbe said:
No, they usually hire residency only for clinical. I do know of one person that got a staff offer though after rotating through a big academic center hospital though.
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when you were on these clinical positions, did you get to do what other staff pharmacists were doing like dispensing? or you just did the clinical stuffs?
 
Bbed said:
when you were on these clinical positions, did you get to do what other staff pharmacists were doing like dispensing? or you just did the clinical stuffs?
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Clinical stuff. I did have a staffing rotation though, although even then half of that was clinical. By that I mean I did discharge counselling, anticoag counselling, attended a few rounds, and reviewed patients for PE/VTE prophylaxis needs and made recommendations on that.
 
I wish I would have picked challenging rotations where I would have learned a lot. I just wanted easy rotations so I could get home and study for the NAPLEX with RxPrep. I loved that book and learned a ton from it.
 
trailerpark said:
I wish I would have picked challenging rotations where I would have learned a lot. I just wanted easy rotations so I could get home and study for the NAPLEX with RxPrep. I loved that book and learned a ton from it.
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As a member of a residency selection committee I pay attention to rotation choices and will deduct points for obvious selection of easy rotations.
 
njac said:
As a member of a residency selection committee I pay attention to rotation choices and will deduct points for obvious selection of easy rotations.
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As a residency selection committee member, how do you assess difficulty of rotations especially if you're less familiar with the geographical area that the applicant is from?

I ask because I'm a P3 who is about to begin selecting rotations. I know 3 of my 7. I'll be doing one block with Procter & Gamble, one block ambulatory care with my time split between an HIV clinic and a pediatric primary care clinic (both with HIV/ID and pediatric faculty members), and a community rotation at an independent pharmacy. My remaining 4 that I will have to complete are health-systems, acute care, advanced patient care elective, and a general elective (hopefully FDA, if I get that one).
 
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njac said:
As a member of a residency selection committee I pay attention to rotation choices and will deduct points for obvious selection of easy rotations.
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what would you consider as "easy" rotations? how about studying abroad for one rotation?
 
njac said:
As a member of a residency selection committee I pay attention to rotation choices and will deduct points for obvious selection of easy rotations.
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Two thumbs down for this. We didn't have a choice in rotations, we had preferences. How do you respond to the student who preferred difficult rotations but was given a grab bag that included easy rotations?
 
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njac said:
As a member of a residency selection committee I pay attention to rotation choices and will deduct points for obvious selection of easy rotations.
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Lol so hoity toity... Thank Goodness I am not doing a residency, one would think that maybe asking the students what their experience on rotation was like would be a better way to decipher what's difficult or hard...but No.... You decide...
 
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BenJammin said:
Two thumbs down for this. We didn't have a choice in rotations, we had preferences. How do you respond to the student who preferred difficult rotations but was given a grab bag that included easy rotations?
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Some people may say their cvs rotation is the hardest!
 
I got lucky in that most of my preferences were given to me, but I didn't get to "pick" them. I'd feel sad for any student that was limited due to P4 year rotations that were beyond their control to select. Not all schools let students do preferences from what I hear, with some it's still a complete lottery system.
 
Digsbe said:
I got lucky in that most of my preferences were given to me, but I didn't get to "pick" them. I'd feel sad for any student that was limited due to P4 year rotations that were beyond their control to select. Not all schools let students do preferences from what I hear, with some it's still a complete lottery system.
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you know what is sad? having to commute 2 hours or move to another state for a rotation site. Do people who have to do an out of state rotation need to get an intern license in that state?
 
Bbed said:
you know what is sad? having to commute 2 hours or move to another state for a rotation site. Do people who have to do an out of state rotation need to get an intern license in that state?
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I opted to do an IPPE rotation out of state (TX) during this winter break, and I definitely needed an intern license there. In fact, at the moment, I don't even have a license in the state that I go to school (MD). I chose that IPPE site because it was close to family, and it was during the holidays.
 
BenJammin said:
Two thumbs down for this. We didn't have a choice in rotations, we had preferences. How do you respond to the student who preferred difficult rotations but was given a grab bag that included easy rotations?
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You look at the whole picture, but comparing two students with identical GPAs/work experience/school involvement, you're going to weigh someone with more clinical rotations a little heavier. I think rotation strength is 15 or 20% of our initial rubric. But I can't remember.


Even our dinky community hospital 3 year old PGY-1 (2 spots) got 50 complete applications this year. There's no way to interview them all, so you have to come up with arbitrary ways to weed them out.
 
Bbed said:
you know what is sad? having to commute 2 hours or move to another state for a rotation site. Do people who have to do an out of state rotation need to get an intern license in that state?
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While I doubt anyone knows the laws of all 50 states, of the ones I am familiar with, yes you do have to get an intern license to be an intern.
 
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Digsbe said:
I got lucky in that most of my preferences were given to me, but I didn't get to "pick" them. I'd feel sad for any student that was limited due to P4 year rotations that were beyond their control to select. Not all schools let students do preferences from what I hear, with some it's still a complete lottery system.
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My school had the lottery system with preference, but ultimately a lottery system.

For rotations I just tried to pick the places closest to my house that I would hope could give me a job offer. Didn't turn out too great, but I did get places relatively close to my house. Couple of sites were like 5-10 minutes away.
 
I know the FDA rotations are popular. Has anyone ever got a job after doing one? It is more hype than substance?
 
Bbed said:
I know the FDA rotations are popular. Has anyone ever got a job after doing one? It is more hype than substance?
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I know one student from my school who received a job offer from them, but they took so long to bring him on, he accepted a job elsewhere in industry.
 
y0ssarian87 said:
I know one student from my school who received a job offer from them, but they took so long to bring him on, he accepted a job elsewhere in industry.
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Did he do a residency? Had prior industry experience?
 
I'd like some advice about my situation. I'm thinking about pursuing a residency, and I ranked a lot of hospital rotations. I also set up an out of state hospital rotation. I'm worried because my first hospital rotation is in November. Then I have 2 clinical hospital rotations in Dec and March, and AmCare in Jan. I was hoping to have my clinical rotations earlier on in the fall. Will this be an issue for applying to residencies?
 
KansasPharmGirl said:
I'd like some advice about my situation. I'm thinking about pursuing a residency, and I ranked a lot of hospital rotations. I also set up an out of state hospital rotation. I'm worried because my first hospital rotation is in November. Then I have 2 clinical hospital rotations in Dec and March, and AmCare in Jan. I was hoping to have my clinical rotations earlier on in the fall. Will this be an issue for applying to residencies?
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Make sure you get a letter of recommendation from the hospital rotation. Let them know you're interested in residency from day 1 and treat the entire rotation like an interview.


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KansasPharmGirl said:
I'd like some advice about my situation. I'm thinking about pursuing a residency, and I ranked a lot of hospital rotations. I also set up an out of state hospital rotation. I'm worried because my first hospital rotation is in November. Then I have 2 clinical hospital rotations in Dec and March, and AmCare in Jan. I was hoping to have my clinical rotations earlier on in the fall. Will this be an issue for applying to residencies?
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I'm not on a selection committee obviously but my 2 cents:
If possible, discuss restructuring your rotation schedule with your APPE advisor. One experience at one hospital is great especially if it comes with a LOR, but several clinical rotations before the new year when a lot of residency applications are due, is ultimately better. And several LOR from several facilities shows you can impress on several stages.

Lastly, for interviews you'll need things to talk about. If you really can't get it restructured, consider doing several projects on that one month; MUEs, monographs, journal clubs, presentations.

As much as we faulted our APPE coordinator, the one thing they did do right is stuff the residency track people with clinical rotations from May-December, and line up community/LTC/managed care experiences for Jan-March. Obviously, some community bound people who wanted a few clinical experiences earlier in the school year got the short end of that.
 
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EyeTeeFarmer said:
I'm not on a selection committee obviously but my 2 cents:
If possible, discuss restructuring your rotation schedule with your APPE advisor. One experience at one hospital is great especially if it comes with a LOR, but several clinical rotations before the new year when a lot of residency applications are due, is ultimately better. And several LOR from several facilities shows you can impress on several stages.

Lastly, for interviews you'll need things to talk about. If you really can't get it restructured, consider doing several projects on that one month; MUEs, monographs, journal clubs, presentations.

As much as we faulted our APPE coordinator, the one thing they did do right is stuff the residency track people with clinical rotations from May-December, and line up community/LTC/managed care experiences for Jan-March. Obviously, some community bound people who wanted a few clinical experiences earlier in the school year got the short end of that.
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Thank you for your advice. I meet with them on Monday. I'm still concerned because all the hospitals I really wanted are taken. (The ones left are 1+ hours away or in rural locations). Also, I know many of the June-Dec clinical rotations are taken by people who aren't even applying for residencies. (They post everyone's schedule to allow us to trade with classmates, which hasn't worked out for me so far either). I will just have to wait and see what happens...
 
You should always treat a P4 rotation like a 4-6 week job interview. You wouldn't believe how many god awful students I've had who put my rotation on their resume or apply to a job at my location thinking that all of the bad things they did here will be forgotten. I have a student this month who is great at practice but has a horrible attitude. Interrupts medical residents, insults nurses during rounds, etc. She better hope that I don't get a residency or job inquiry from an employer about her because she's getting a NEFR recommendation from us.
 
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2013pharmer said:
Hello everyone, what rotation sites are likely to hire their students?
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Treat every rotation as a long job interview. I know plenty of people hired that route. Don't assume because you're at an inpatient site you're a nobody without residency. We have 3 "clinical" pharmacists at my hospital now and none of us completed a residency. True story: we canned a pharmacist with residency and BCPS because he/she was utter garbage...we were all surprised by his/her weak clinical skills. Couldn't even handle 1/2 workload.

If you're at a rotation site where working there will require more experience, they may not offer you a spot now, but if you create a lasting impression they might pick you up later. Be willing to learn, admit errors and learn from them, nobody likes a brown noser, be professional.
 
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angryrx said:
If you're at a rotation site where working there will require more experience, they may not offer you a spot now, but if you create a lasting impression they might pick you up later. Be willing to learn, admit errors and learn from them, nobody likes a brown noser, be professional.
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I am currently going after a job at a former rotation site. I thought my performance there was strong and I got positive feedback so hopefully they will remember me fondly. :)
 
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y0ssarian87 said:
No residency or fellowship. His only industry experience was through an APPE. He did however have a dual degree (MS in Pharmacometrics).


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That is pretty rare! How was he able to stand out?
 
Bbed said:
That is pretty rare! How was he able to stand out?
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Not sure of all the specifics. He had several years of research experience with a few publications. Like I mentioned before, he had a MS in Pharmacometrics, something the FDA is expanding their efforts/training in. He may have had some FDA connections through his pharmacometrics program, but I'm not sure.


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y0ssarian87 said:
Not sure of all the specifics. He had several years of research experience with a few publications. Like I mentioned before, he had a MS in Pharmacometrics, something the FDA is expanding their efforts/training in. He may have had some FDA connections through his pharmacometrics program, but I'm not sure.


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just to show you...it is not just what you know but who you know that matters.
 
what are some of the job hookups you have seen?
 
has anyone ever did a VA rotation and got a job offer afterward? where do I start? who does the hiring? someone at that specific VA or a hiring manager?
 
Derailing the thread a bit to post my assigned rotations for next year (starting in May):

(1) Pharmaceutical industry - pharmacovigilance
(2) FDA hem/onc labeling
(3) Off
(4) Acute care/internal medicine - community teaching hospital affiliated with a major academic medical system
(5) Off
(6) Oncology - inpatient, federal hospital (not a VA)
*Winter Break*
(7&8) Ambulatory care - HIV and pediatrics primary care; community
(9) Health systems - psychiatric hospital

Goal: aiming for fellowships. Thoughts and feedback are welcome.


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