What bad P4 rotation experience

[KKHeal]

Do you care to share yours?

A friend said how they worked sooo hard and were called lazy at last..how can that be?

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[Doctor M]

Do you care to share yours?

A friend said how they worked sooo hard and were called lazy at last..how can that be?

Because we all have different work ethics...I work many hours for now and i remember as a student i couldnt wait for 5 pm to roll around so i could go home. Well, there is no 9 to 5 pm shift...If i ever get a student, he's gonna be by my side doing SOAPS and Drug papers until I go home... Its part of learning as much as you can...

 

[rx2010]

My P4 rotations were okay so far, but I remember my IPPE rotation at Walgreens was bad... I worked 14 hours straight and was only offered two 15 min breaks. When the manager was discussing what time each tech would go on lunch, I heard the tech ask what time I would go and the manager said oh, she's with so and so school, she doesn't get a lunch. I didn't learn anything, all I did was fill the entire time I was there with no help.

 

[Doctor M]

My P4 rotations were okay so far, but I remember my IPPE rotation at Walgreens was bad... I worked 14 hours straight and was only offered two 15 min breaks. When the manager was discussing what time each tech would go on lunch, I heard the tech ask what time I would go and the manager said oh, she's with so and so school, she doesn't get a lunch. I didn't learn anything, all I did was fill the entire time I was there with no help.

That sucks! I just became a preceptor and i will have P4 students doing psyche soaps and drug info on psyche drugs; and immunization education...Not just fill!

 

[J ROD]

I got "pimped" on morning rounds in from of the whole team since I was going MD and the PharmD didnt like it and basically brought it up everyday in some smartass comment, like I probably cant teach you enough on this matter since I am only a pharmacist....etc

I also got downgraded....I got As everywhere else except at this one hospital...the above PharmD told me everyone there knows what you are doing....

I had to change my rotation schedule to avoid the place....

I just wanted to learn.....not make it a pissing contest.....cant help she felt inadequate....

hope I see her at graduation...

 

[Sparda29]

I dunno, I had a pretty good and bad rotation for my community practice site.

Good -

I came in at 9:30AM and they let me go home at 2:30PM. My friend who is the other student, comes in at 1:30PM and goes home at 6:30PM.

The rotation was a refresher course on HIV for me since that was the specialty of the pharmacy. I learned more about HIV drugs at the rotation than I did in class.


Bad -
Pretty slow store, so we were just standing around most of the time. So we just ended up reading a bunch of articles while we were there. They didn't allow us to do much either.

 

[nafcillin]

even if the rotation sucks ass pretend that you REALLY want to work when they assign you something. Sit around and research stuff on your off time, ask intelligent questions and try to stay out of the way. Be of use. and act grateful when you are able to be used. Sorry to say this but students are a wee bit of a pain because pharmacists are really busy. The best ones are the ones with the good attitudes and the go-getters. They help us and don't mope around when we are holding their hands because we have other things to do. They don't surf the net, text, call their friends or run off doing something else and come back later, they don't come in late and they don't clock watch. The best students are the ones that are eager to work even if that means they have to pretend to be excited about doing nothing in their down time or make up work when the pharmacist is busy.

This isn't to sound harsh, it's just reality. If you are good enough, you may land a job or residency at the site.

 

[that1guy]

So much depends on the preceptor. No matter how challenging the material or the time involved, if my preceptor was actually motivated to teach and actually invested their own time and energy into the rotation, it was a good rotation. I'd rather do 12 hours with a fully invested preceptor then 6 hours with a preceptor that was busy with other things.

Unfortunately, some of my preceptors seemed to be taking students just so they could mark it down on their CV. They spent most of the day doing their own work and basically pawned me off on a staff pharmacist or sat me in front of a computer to do renal dosing and INRs all day.

My advice: talk to students in the class above you and avoid wasting 4-6 weeks of your life as a future entry on some jerks CV.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

My communtiy IPPE as a P3 has been mind numbing. Count, count, count...
Honestly, it seems like the pharmacists are just counting all the time too. When I point something out or ask a question...they just stare and saying "they don't know". I loathe walking into that pharmacy. The staff is nice but no learning goes on.

My 4th year rotations involve no retail pharmacy, all new experiences!

 

[Sparda29]

According to some of my classmates, their preceptors were nice, but if they were working on days when there was a different staff pharmacist there, they were basically treated as free help. (Basically, the school has a set of projects that they want the student to do while they are there, not just fill, but the staff pharmacist just uses them to fill and keeps them there for longer than they are supposed to stay.)

 

[type b pharmD]

According to some of my classmates, their preceptors were nice, but if they were working on days when there was a different staff pharmacist there, they were basically treated as free help. (Basically, the school has a set of projects that they want the student to do while they are there, not just fill, but the staff pharmacist just uses them to fill and keeps them there for longer than they are supposed to stay.)

I get around this happening to me because I have no knowledge of how retail pharmacy works. I dont know how to use the computers , enter a script, procedure for filling one, or any of the workflow . So when a preceptor asks at the beginning of an IPPE "you alright with helping me a bit if/when things get busy", i just respond with "you want to train me? I've never worked in retail before" , and they usually just drop it. But if a preceptor tried to use me as unpaid labor, i'd report it to the school and probably have a talk with them about it quickly.

 

[KKHeal]

I get around this happening to me because I have no knowledge of how retail pharmacy works. I dont know how to use the computers , enter a script, procedure for filling one, or any of the workflow . So when a preceptor asks at the beginning of an IPPE "you alright with helping me a bit if/when things get busy", i just respond with "you want to train me? I've never worked in retail before" , and they usually just drop it. But if a preceptor tried to use me as unpaid labor, i'd report it to the school and probably have a talk with them about it quickly.

ok...what if they score you a "D" or an "F" grade?

 

[p-rog]

ok...what if they score you a "D" or an "F" grade?

Supposedly, you can appeal it. You might be successful with your appeal if you had mentioned to your APPE coordinator(s) during the rotation too.

 

[type b pharmD]

ok...what if they score you a "D" or an "F" grade?

IPPE .. the only thing that's graded is if we showed up.

APPEs here are pass fail. I'm surprised you guys get letter grades!

 

[spacecowgirl]

even if the rotation sucks ass pretend that you REALLY want to work when they assign you something. Sit around and research stuff on your off time, ask intelligent questions and try to stay out of the way. Be of use. and act grateful when you are able to be used. Sorry to say this but students are a wee bit of a pain because pharmacists are really busy. The best ones are the ones with the good attitudes and the go-getters. They help us and don't mope around when we are holding their hands because we have other things to do. They don't surf the net, text, call their friends or run off doing something else and come back later, they don't come in late and they don't clock watch. The best students are the ones that are eager to work even if that means they have to pretend to be excited about doing nothing in their down time or make up work when the pharmacist is busy.

This isn't to sound harsh, it's just reality. If you are good enough, you may land a job or residency at the site.

Agreed, although I won't say students are a "pain" but I will say precepting (correctly) is really hard work and some days or weeks you just don't have the time to hold students' hands. Motivation is huge. I really try hard to come up with independent work that is useful to both the student and to our facility, but suppose it's not always super riveting material. There are parts of every job that aren't that exciting but are necessary. It's a much harder job than I thought it would be.

 

[Sparda29]

Yeah, at my school we get Pass/Fail. I was hoping that they would be letter graded for IPPE and APPE, so I could use the rotations as a GPA booster. Unfortunately, my GPA is gonna stay the same after this semester, so this is my last chance to boost it.