Anyone have experience asking for more responsibilities as a hospital intern?

[stark3]

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So I was lucky enough to land a hospital position and have been here for about 6 months now. I primarily function as a tech - deliver meds, triage phone calls, make IVs. Now that I feel comfortable with my responsibilities, I want to approach my supervisor with requests for clinical responsibilities.

Does anyone have any experience in this? If so, what steps did you take and what were the outcomes? On the flipside, if you are on the management side, how would you want your intern to approach you with this request

**Ah posted this in the residency forum. Mods -- if you see this, can you move it to the general pharmacy section?

 

[njac]

I would approach a pharmacist you like and respect first and start asking questions about what they're doing - show some interest there. Once you learn a little there, see
About taking over simpler stuff like renal dose adjustments. Eventually maybe anticoag and kinetics.

But starting with one individual may be an easier wall to break down than going straight to management, because you'll also earn an advocate.

My current workplace treats interns like techs, but where I worked as an intern we were closer to pharmacists. I'm pretty underwhelmed by the interns I see now, but I can't fault them because they aren't pushed.

 

[felixpharmd]

when i was an intern, i emailed my clinical coordinator and asked about any projects interns can get involved with
and i got a lot of opportunities just by simply asking
so reach out to people

 

[stark3]

I would approach a pharmacist you like and respect first and start asking questions about what they're doing - show some interest there. Once you learn a little there, see
About taking over simpler stuff like renal dose adjustments. Eventually maybe anticoag and kinetics.

But starting with one individual may be an easier wall to break down than going straight to management, because you'll also earn an advocate.

My current workplace treats interns like techs, but where I worked as an intern we were closer to pharmacists. I'm pretty underwhelmed by the interns I see now, but I can't fault them because they aren't pushed.

Thanks for the advice. I definitely have a better relationship with the pharmacists since we work together on the weekends. I am actually not sure if those services (IV to PO, anticoagulation, Vanco dosing) are offered on the weekend at my hospital. Seems like they run a skeleton crew on the weekend that essentially verifies orders.

 

[stark3]

when i was an intern, i emailed my clinical coordinator and asked about any projects interns can get involved with
and i got a lot of opportunities just by simply asking
so reach out to people

What kind of projects were you able to get involved in?

 

[pharmhopeful123]

So I was lucky enough to land a hospital position and have been here for about 6 months now. I primarily function as a tech - deliver meds, triage phone calls, make IVs. Now that I feel comfortable with my responsibilities, I want to approach my supervisor with requests for clinical responsibilities.

Does anyone have any experience in this? If so, what steps did you take and what were the outcomes? On the flipside, if you are on the management side, how would you want your intern to approach you with this request

**Ah posted this in the residency forum. Mods -- if you see this, can you move it to the general pharmacy section?

First off congrats on the position! I've been fortunate to have a manager that sought out opportunities for the interns to become more involved. I too usually work on the weekends, but have been able to become involved in a project with one of the clinical specialist and work on that data collection during the week. The staff pharmacists I work with also tell me to let them know if I have any ideas for projects to improve our services. I too agree that just by reaching out, you could open the floodgates for a lot of opportunities. Be prepared for lots of additional work!