Life Off-Label

I had my first day as an intern at my IPPE site, which is an independent pharmacy about 30 minutes away on the freeway, which is only a little longer than my commute to work was in Dallas. I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially having never worked in a community setting before. It also doesn’t help that two of my classmates had, um, interesting first days at their sites. One got to witness a robbery, and another was there when a narcotics agent tried to do a sting buying Sudafed with a fake ID. I’ve also heard horror stories from pharmacists I worked with of just being ignored and treated as free labor. When I got there though, I knew I had an awesome site when the lady with pink hair greeted me and informed me she’s my preceptor.

I showed up in professional attire like we were told to do in class. I wore a nice black shirt with gray dress pants and black work shoes, but I definitely stood out since everyone there wears scrubs. I plan on going back for a few more hours Saturday, and since I have a bunch of scrubs from my old job, I ask if it’s ok for me to wear scrubs from now on as well. She goes, “Oh absolutely, but Saturday is jean day, so you might want to wear jeans.”

Seriously, coolest pharmacy ever.

As I said before, having no prior experience in this setting, I felt a little out of my element at first. I do know that pharmacies have a pretty orderly work flow, and being unfamiliar with it I didn’t want to start doing things that would disrupt someone’s job. I let my preceptor and the techs tell me what to do until I got more comfortable with how things ran. By the end of my shift, I was able to be more proactive with filling prescriptions.

I also took a few prescriptions over the phone, which is something I have never done (aside from a mock phone-in in my class). I wrote down everything I would need to ask ahead of time, so I wouldn’t forget anything. I felt pretty blonde at one moment, because I asked the lady on the other line to spell “Medrol”, and I could tell she was thinking, “uh… seriously?” Oh well. I know with time it’ll be easier and more natural, but I hate being in that new slow phase.

I think the weirdest thing for me is to separate myself from the technician role and be more like the pharmacist. I’m so used to asking the pharmacist questions and doing what they tell me, and it’s a little intimidating to know that eventually I’m going to have to take that leadership role and be the one running the place. At the same time, that’s also exciting, and I think it’s why I’m so eager to learn.