APPE - Please Give Me Advice

[Greatpharma]

This thread is now closed. Thank you for all the helpful responses.

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[owlegrad]

Well it definitely sucks she won’t let you take advantage of learning opportunities but I do wonder what her side of the story is. Why should she let you go to a smoking cessation class more than once?

Laughing at your tears makes her sound like a cartoon villain. I really cannot see a scenario in which a student should be crying or a preceptor laughing at the student. Personally I think you should take your concerns up with your APPE director.

 

[beautifulrobot]

I second talking to your school about this preceptor and getting their advice. But also try to keep things in perspective. How long is the rotation? 5-6 weeks? Not to dismiss how traumatic it can be to have an emotionally abusive preceptor, but there's something to be said about just putting your head down and powering through it. Also, reach out to your student health center - they often offer free and confidential counseling services. It sounds like you could use someone to talk to and to help you develop coping mechanisms with stressful situations.

 

[Greatpharma]

Well it definitely sucks she won’t let you take advantage of learning opportunities but I do wonder what her side of the story is. Why should she let you go to a smoking cessation class more than once?

Laughing at your tears makes her sound like a cartoon villain. I really cannot see a scenario in which a student should be crying or a preceptor laughing at the student. Personally I think you should take your concerns up with your APPE director.

Because the smoking cessation class is a 10-week course. I attended week 8 and so I really love to attend it again to see how the patients improve and make progress. But she doesn't like it. She said other students need to go too but I really don't see why we can't just go together. This week is my week 1 with her. I hope next week will get a little better. I have never reported any of my preceptors (or even thought about it) but I may if this keeps going.

 

[Greatpharma]

I second talking to your school about this preceptor and getting their advice. But also try to keep things in perspective. How long is the rotation? 5-6 weeks? Not to dismiss how traumatic it can be to have an emotionally abusive preceptor, but there's something to be said about just putting your head down and powering through it. Also, reach out to your student health center - they often offer free and confidential counseling services. It sounds like you could use someone to talk to and to help you develop coping mechanisms with stressful situations.

Right. This is my last rotation too so I really just want to get over it. I hope she won't break my mental limit too often. I think reaching out to the school and the student health center are very good advices. If next week gets worse or nothing changes I will definitely need help...

 

[Sine Cura]

Like you said this is your last rotation.

You will never get anything out of this other than learning how not to treat other people or how to hold people accountable (report to experiential education) and/or how to suck it up because don't assume 'real world' is any any better

 

[JustFillIt]

Who cares... it’s inly 6 weeks. On a larger scale you will be surprised how insignificant 6 weeks is

 

[Modest_anteater]

Right. This is my last rotation too so I really just want to get over it. I hope she won't break my mental limit too often. I think reaching out to the school and the student health center are very good advices. If next week gets worse or nothing changes I will definitely need help...

You need to hide your contempt for your preceptor and try your best to keep her happy. If she sees you don't like her she has enough power to fail you which could delay your graduation. If anything wait till AFTER graduation then report her when you are safe. Please remember your preceptor is going out of their way to help you with this rotation so please be respectful.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Has it occurred to you that you are confusing how you think pharmacy should be versus what the reality is?

 

[projektreverb]

Just power thru it and forget about it. I was 100% checked out during my last rotation and I knew it was a useless rotation anyways. Just finish and move on with your life.

 

[BC_89]

Has it occurred to you that you are confusing how you think pharmacy should be versus what the reality is?

OP, I don’t have personal tips for you based on your final rotation site, but there is some dose of a takeaway that Angora has mentioned above. I’d imagine this preceptor in a retail setting has metrics to meet while making sure you don’t screw up under their licensure.

I don’t condone the preceptor not allowing you to learn, but I’d imagine they have a quota to meet and the last thing they need is someone asking questions outside of the scope of retail. Power through and be humble (your almost there). You may be in their shoes soon enough...Always something to learn before you’re on your own.

 

[Greatpharma]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the advices. I will do my best. I will also keep you all updated as I go on. Thank you again!

 

[Thoughtfulsinner]

Suck it up and clean up your grammar. No offense but I can't believe you're about to graduate pharmacy school with that diatribe. They are really churning out a lot of pushovers at these schools.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Suck it up and clean up your grammar. No offense but I can't believe you're about to graduate pharmacy school with that diatribe. They are really churning out a lot of pushovers at these schools.

OP is probably a foreign student/fob, in which case I can see exactly why their preceptor is condescending to them. This post reminds me of some threads on SDN in the past where the poster complains about failing retail rotations due to “poor communication skills” and how unfair that is. Well gee, we live in America and Americans speak english. Did you really think that you are going to pharmacy school so that you could find a job in a niche ethnic community where you can speak your native tongue exclusively and get away with having poor english? That is like thinking that you will become a unicorn “clinical” pharmacist— maybe something that 1% of pharmacists can attain. Just as if you went to pharmacy school you need to be ok with doing retail (because retail makes up >80% of jobs), in the same way so do you have no business becoming a pharmacist if your english isn’t good.

 

[Thoughtfulsinner]

She even made me cry yesterday when she turned me down from asking for learning opportunity, in a rude way. She saw me crying and laughed at me...

 

[lord999]

Well it definitely sucks she won’t let you take advantage of learning opportunities but I do wonder what her side of the story is. Why should she let you go to a smoking cessation class more than once?

Laughing at your tears makes her sound like a cartoon villain. I really cannot see a scenario in which a student should be crying or a preceptor laughing at the student. Personally I think you should take your concerns up with your APPE director.

I agree with the "taking your concerns up with the APPE director", but I'd probably take it up with experiential education itself at your school. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with cartoon villain sadists at times, and we're all sorts of people. I've had that experience with one of my preceptors (racial bigot and religious discrimination), and it really warped the way I deal with the profession and management even today 17 years later. Yes, you will have to deal with these people, you need to figure out a survival strategy. Acting defeated in front of a predator is only going to invite further predation.

 

[BC_89]

Users are reminded that trolling and intent to inflame is prohibited within our TOS. There’s a difference between having “tough-skin” and taking advantage of a user down on their luck seeking advice from current licensed healthcare professionals.

OP is probably a foreign student/fob, in which case I can see exactly why their preceptor is condescending to them. This post reminds me of some threads on SDN in the past where the poster complains about failing retail rotations due to “poor communication skills” and how unfair that is. Well gee, we live in America and Americans speak english. Did you really think that you are going to pharmacy school so that you could find a job in a niche ethnic community where you can speak your native tongue exclusively and get away with having poor english? That is like thinking that you will become a unicorn “clinical” pharmacist— maybe something that 1% of pharmacists can attain. Just as if you went to pharmacy school you need to be ok with doing retail (because retail makes up >80% of jobs), in the same way so do you have no business becoming a pharmacist if your english isn’t good.