Exclusion from Retail internships during pharm school? Any thoughts?

[Jabberwocky12]

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Hey guys, I was hoping maybe someone here might have a little bit of information on this for someone I know. And by someone I know, I mean someone I know and not *me* 😀

A friend of mine is in the esteem database from 2008 because his retail store thought he was stealing. I won't go into specifics but he is in the database but I believe him in that it was a misunderstanding since I've worked there before as well.

He now shows up in all retail background checks for like 7 years which is almost an auto reject for retail applications like Wags, RA, CVS, and the like. However, I do believe most independents will not show up, which is always a possibility though.

Does this exclude him from retail internships if he starts pharmacy school before 2015? For either IPPEs or APPEs or just summer internships in general if the school doesn't require summer IPPEs for the first year or 2? I'm talking for like target, Wal-Mart, RA, Wags, CVS, etc. The major places, not the independents.

I would like to mention that the esteem database isn't used for doing non-retail background checks. It doesn't show up to apply for an insurance job, for example, nor would it show up in volunteering applications that do background checks, or college applications.

So would the retail internship locations run their own background check or would they take a background check from the college? Would the college do an esteem background check specifically for the summer IPPE/APPE?

I've tried to help my friend research this but it's a touchy subject for him and there isn't much online at this moment for things like this, at least by my searching methods...

 

[ttopping]

I never had a site do a background check. Our school just started doing them a few years ago so I assume if they needed one they could have contacted the program. As far as the company is concerned you're just some student from school x, I doubt anyone but the preceptor would even know specific names.

Edit: Just talking IPPEs and APPEs

 

[ethyl]

Hopefully he disclosed the charge in his school application. Schools will perform full background checks before you start rotations... it's possible certain facilities can reject him, or even the state board rejecting his intern or pharmacist license. If he lets the dean know, it can all be taken care of in advance.

 

[Jabberwocky12]

I never had a site do a background check. Our school just started doing them a few years ago so I assume if they needed one they could have contacted the program. As far as the company is concerned you're just some student from school x, I doubt anyone but the preceptor would even know specific names.

Edit: Just talking IPPEs and APPEs

I find that pretty interesting. So if you were doing an internship there over the summer, but not through the school per se (i.e. no IPPE the first summer but you choose to intern anyway) would the same process work?

If you wanted to do an internship but the school doesn't do an IPPE for the summer would the school still do all the work for you? Like, if I found I wanted to work at WAGS for the summer as an intern for PY1 summer but no IPPE required, do I initiate that myself and handle all of it and the school receives it after the fact, or does the school start and finish the process?

This is probably school specific but what do you think your school would do?

 

[Jabberwocky12]

Hopefully he disclosed the charge in his school application. Schools will perform full background checks before you start rotations... it's possible certain facilities can reject him, or even the state board rejecting his intern or pharmacist license. If he lets the dean know, it can all be taken care of in advance.

There was no official charge really. Basically, the company fired him. He shows up in an esteem background check, which is a lexisnexus database that you have to specifically subscribe to. However, no police or civil suit were involved. So for any of the paperwork described in applying to pharmacy school, there is no applicable field. No charge, no criminal or civil suit, investigation, or anything.

I'll still tell him to talk to the dean about it though. I'd assume since this happened in 2008 and there is a squeaky clean record everywhere else it won't be an issue.

 

[pharmschooler]

There was no official charge really. Basically, the company fired him. He shows up in an esteem background check, which is a lexisnexus database that you have to specifically subscribe to. However, no police or civil suit were involved. So for any of the paperwork described in applying to pharmacy school, there is no applicable field. No charge, no criminal or civil suit, investigation, or anything.

I'll still tell him to talk to the dean about it though. I'd assume since this happened in 2008 and there is a squeaky clean record everywhere else it won't be an issue.

I think he should speak with a lawyer if it's an erroneous charge that's preventing him from working. It seems illegal to put a black mark on somebody's record if the bad behavior can't be proven or didn't actually happen or isn't documented. Most especially if he did nothing wrong.

 

[Jabberwocky12]

I think he should speak with a lawyer if it's an erroneous charge that's preventing him from working. It seems illegal to put a black mark on somebody's record if the bad behavior can't be proven or didn't actually happen or isn't documented. Most especially if he did nothing wrong.

The details here make it a pain in the rear to object to what happened. My friend honestly doesn't care as much unless it keeps him from getting the full experience from pharmacy school. He doesn't work retail anymore, he actually works as an administrator assistant in a clinic. By the time he is done with pharm school the record is gone and he can work retail. We talked about it but the time and money might not outweigh the benefit of doing it. Basically, this is the deciding factor for him.

So the big question comes down to this: Will he be affected negatively in pharmacy school as a result of this? If not, he won't lift a finger and doesn't care. He's a very laid back, non-confrontational kind of person most of the time.

So far it sounds like it's not going to be a big deal to him.

 

[deleted205891]

The details here make it a pain in the rear to object to what happened. My friend honestly doesn't care as much unless it keeps him from getting the full experience from pharmacy school. He doesn't work retail anymore, he actually works as an administrator assistant in a clinic. By the time he is done with pharm school the record is gone and he can work retail. We talked about it but the time and money might not outweigh the benefit of doing it. Basically, this is the deciding factor for him.

So the big question comes down to this: Will he be affected negatively in pharmacy school as a result of this? If not, he won't lift a finger and doesn't care. He's a very laid back, non-confrontational kind of person most of the time.

So far it sounds like it's not going to be a big deal to him.

It may affect him negatively, if he can't do IPPEs and APPEs in chains. They told us before rotations that some chains don't take APPE students if they have any record of stealing. The best option would be to talk to the dean's office and then work with them to help him get the best experience possible out of pharmacy school.

 

[ttopping]

I find that pretty interesting. So if you were doing an internship there over the summer, but not through the school per se (i.e. no IPPE the first summer but you choose to intern anyway) would the same process work?

If you wanted to do an internship but the school doesn't do an IPPE for the summer would the school still do all the work for you? Like, if I found I wanted to work at WAGS for the summer as an intern for PY1 summer but no IPPE required, do I initiate that myself and handle all of it and the school receives it after the fact, or does the school start and finish the process?

This is probably school specific but what do you think your school would do?

If I just got a job/internship at some chain not related to IPPEs, my school would have nothing to do with it (and why would they). Therefore the same process would not work. Due to the fact you would actually be a part of that company you would probably get a background check, drug screen, if you were ever fired from a job and why, etc. In that instance, it may affect your friend.

The only reason I wouldn't think it would hinder him from IPPEs is that you said there were no formal charges and that it wouldn't show up on a normal background check (which is all my school does). I'm just speculating based on the information given and what makes sense to me, but if there was some behind the scenes check that the company did on students then it might be a different story.

Edit: whether or not the school has access to that database and whether or not they do anything about it is a different story. That part I'm not sure about, and maybe he should talk to someone at the school regarding the situation to get a straight answer

 

[laclifto]

In our rotations, only those of us that had rotations at specific sites (I know Rite Aid was one, I think also Target) had to have background checks for that site. I would suppose if there was an issue, those sites might not be available. I'm pretty sure Walgreens didn't do one, but that's been over a year ago...

 

[Jabberwocky12]

So it sounds like contacting the schools would be the best bet, and the dean would be the one to straighten it out?

The dean of what department?

Also it sounds like either he has to wait, convince places that something in 2008-2009 isn't as big of a deal in the next few years, or do an independent