what to do with pharm intern?

[bivwack]

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I am a IM resident, occasional i have a pharm intern assigned to the team. they hang around for rounds in the AM then i don't see them for the rest of the day. Since I went through med school I know what to do w/ med students and what their role on a medicine team is, not so sure what I should be doing w/ the pharm intern.....Any suggestions?
anything you have found particularly useful or rewarding (or irritating/ annoying) during your rotations?

 

[stevephhs016]

They would usually attend rounds and then meet up with their preceptors in the middle of the day to discuss plans etc etc.

With the pharm interns, its really what happened over the course of the night if the patient was there the day before. Or if it was a new pt, they should review med history with current meds. Progress notes from the residents/attendings. Pretty much, they should have a solid idea on those information. The interns should know any changes to the pt up until rounds come up.

I think its helpful a lot of times if the resident turned to the pharm intern and ask what they think. IMO, that makes you part of the team instead of just a bystander attending rounds.

 

[Praziquantel86]

I am a IM resident, occasional i have a pharm intern assigned to the team. they hang around for rounds in the AM then i don't see them for the rest of the day. Since I went through med school I know what to do w/ med students and what their role on a medicine team is, not so sure what I should be doing w/ the pharm intern.....Any suggestions?
anything you have found particularly useful or rewarding (or irritating/ annoying) during your rotations?

I've always liked it when I'm treated as a member of the team, as opposed to some guy who's just there for the day. Ask the same questions and show the same things that you would to med students - pathophysiology, treatment options, procedures, differentials. Focus on stuff that you think might be relevant to pharmacy, but having the background knowledge is incredibly helpful.

Try not to dumb it down too much, either. One of my first rotations had me in a neuro ICU. The attending pulled up a chest x-ray, pointed at it and asked me what I was looking at. I thought it was some significant finding that she wanted me to see, but it turned out that it was just the chest x-ray. Go figure.

 

[MustLoveDrugs]

I am a IM resident, occasional i have a pharm intern assigned to the team. they hang around for rounds in the AM then i don't see them for the rest of the day. Since I went through med school I know what to do w/ med students and what their role on a medicine team is, not so sure what I should be doing w/ the pharm intern.....Any suggestions?
anything you have found particularly useful or rewarding (or irritating/ annoying) during your rotations?

Ask drug information questions that come up on rounds. For example, if a patient experiences a certain side effect or has an unexplained change in a lab value, ask your intern if any drugs the patient is/was taking could have caused/exacerbated it. I get questions like that all the time. "My patient has [pruritis or thrombocytopenia or elevated LFTs] and I don't know which med(s) could be causing it... Could you find out and let me know?" The intern should be able to tell you the obvious drug side effects on the spot, i.e. statin --> elevated LFTs, but you can still have them look up the patient's other medications after rounds. Ask them to get back to you later that day or the next day on rounds. In the above case of elevated LFTs, they might be surprised to learn which oral hypoglycemics and pain relievers can cause the same problem...