Top 200 brand/generic names is a pretty good start in retail or in hospitals. I've had yet to hear a nurse or patient ask for prochlorperazine or esomeprazole or sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprin.
Also, figure out who wants to teach and who doesn't. And know that everyone has different personalities. You'll have people who just want to do their job and nothing else, you'll have people who are always pimping you (asking you questions to test your knowledge), and you'll have people who will just be punkasses to you. Don't let the haters stop you from doin your thang.
Mostly - I want you to know your limits! You can cause much more damage by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time than any drug error which I might catch. So....if someone calls on the phone & you want to expound on some therapeutic situation.....take a minute, put the call on hold, then ask.....tell me who it is & I tell you about that person't situation & how much/how little to say...
This was what I was also going to say.
When I first started on phones I'd find myself getting calls asking stuff that they don't really teach in school, like for instance "my patient is going to CT now how do I run this bag of bicarb?" or "how many meqs of K are in a 30 mmol bag of K-Phos and how fast can I run it at?" Being an intern and wanting to learn and not bother an RPh, I'd look it up and calculate and get ready...up until it hit me that if I f'ed up I could seriously mess up electrolytes and put the patient in an arrythmia or worse.
To the RN/patient/whoever, they'll usually automatically think you're a pharmacist, as opposed to a wet behind the ears P1, so they can and will do whatever you tell them. I've definitely been in over my head without realizing it until it was too late; most pharmacists will realize you just want to help and learn...but you're still just a student. As a result it is extremely important to know when you can give advice/counsel and when you need RPh intervention.
Finally, I would hope that they do NOT expect you to just do your job and that's that. In my hospital I have seen tons and tons of students who just do their job and that's it...no questions about anything, don't know what basic drugs that they see everyday do... I'm really not trying to be better than people or get all holier-than-thou but I just don't understand the point of working as an intern in a practice setting without being interested and passionate and curious in your career.
