What would be the best way to gain a hospital internship? I am an upcoming P1 in Atlanta, GA and I am trying to find a way to get my foot in the door at a hospital pharmacy. I found multiple hospital pharmacy technician jobs but not specific listing for intern. Should I shoot for those technician jobs and when I begin pharmacy school in August request to become an intern? Or is that even possible to move from technician to intern? I am currently a technician at CVS and will be interning there too. Essentially I am trying to have a foot in both retail and hospital to keep as many doors open as possible come graduation.
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Hospital Internship
Started by bulldog1123
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I am not familiar with the laws in GA. But, if GA BoP requires intern hours prior to getting your license, there should be a few internship jobs available in hospitals. If not, it is not a bad idea to apply for the technician job. The role of a tech and an intern is pretty much the same. The difference is what you get out of it. If you show your enthusiasm, and willingness to learn, I doubt any pharmacist would prevent you from taking on additional responsibilities to make you become a well trained pharmacist.
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I would call the hospital directly and ask if there are any pharmacy intern positions available. A lot of places are looking for only tech-related help when hiring a tech and may not like it if you are expecting to transition to an intern later (if they even allow it).
Makes sense. Would i be able to work as a PRN tech there during pharm school and have it considered as hospital experience come applying to pharmacist positions in the hospital?
How do you recommend I gain hospital experience during school? before I get to the rotations stage. As a technician?
Yes. They're practically the same job anyway in a hospital. In all likelihood, unless they're incredibly anal, the hospital pharmacists will sign off on your hours/log sheet stating you worked as an "intern" since you need 500 hours during your summers. But it is something you should ask about during your interview with the hospital.
Hello Bulldog. My best bet would be for you to venture all the hospital pharmacies within the region and ask if they are hiring interns. The good news is that your school may put you in a hospital experience rotation in your first year and you can bet they will be hiring if they are looking for free labor. Another good way is to join the hospital pharmacist club at your school and some people in that club will likely be interns at hospitals and you become friends with them and ask them to recommend you.
