Appetizers

Starting with some basics.

 Fun Starters

Getting to know the human side.

 Main Course

A quick deep dive into the day-to-day student life.

Tell us about yourself and what you're studying.

My name is Sabrina and I am currently a P1 student at Northeastern's School of Pharmacy. As part of the PharmD curriculum, you complete two IPPEs, one in an institutional setting and the other in the community. I chose to fulfill my institutional IPPE at Brigham and Women's. At Central Pharmacy, I assist in filling prescriptions, stocking Omnicells on the floors, delivering patient-specific medication as well as checking other technicians’ work.

How did you end up in your field? What do you like about it?

I have always been interested in chemistry, but it wasn't until college that I realized I also enjoyed certain aspects of business as well. I chose pharmacy since it is at the intersection of those two fields. Additionally, I'm passionate about patient education and helping others gain health literacy skills. While I am still exploring the different fields within pharmacy, I am probably pursuing either clinical or industry pharmacy.

What does a typical day on the job look like for you?

Brigham's Central Pharmacy is a 24/7 operation. As interns, we rotate between day shift, 7:00am - 3:30pm, and evening shift, 2:30pm - 11:00pm. I've been trained as E-Scanner, Carousel Operator, CT, and Delivery.

As E-Scanner, I conduct a final check of patient-specific prescriptions that were filled by technicians and triage phone calls during the evening shift.

As Carousel Operator, I pick medication from the Carousel and help fill Batch medications, which are commonly used medications kept in Omnicells on the floors.

As CT, I sort through returned medication and create labels to sort them back into the carousels.

Lastly, as a Delivery technician, I take up Batch and patient-specific medication to the Omnicells on the floors. Delivery runs leave the pharmacy every hour on the half-hour. In order for the pharmacy to run smoothly, the pharmacists, technicians, and interns need to work together.

Who do you collaborate with in meetings and projects? Cross-functional teams? What's it like?

I would say my work as a pharmacy intern is pretty individual, but overall it requires everyone - the interns and pharmacy technicians to all do our part to keep the pharmacy running smoothly. We all cover and help each other out when it gets busy.

 Dessert

Now for some juicy insights in the tea room.

What's the most challenging thing about your job?

Completing each task quickly and most importantly, accurately. Drug names often sound alike and pills often look similar as well. Obviously, we want the ensure the right dosage of the drug gets sent up to the floor, so being detail-oriented is crucial. I would also say at first I was really scared of answering the phone.

In my role, I mainly triage phone calls from nurses and assist pharmacists in finding medication. There was definitely a learning curve to picking up calls.

What are some characteristics that help someone succeed in your role?

Being detail-oriented and really working out your own method to getting tasks done effectively.

Any advice on how to stand out and get hired for those just starting off?

Showcase your personality during interviews! As a pharmacy intern, you will be trained on a job, so I personally think that interviewers are looking for people who they can converse with and those they think will integrate well into the team.

What's something that surprised you about your internship?

The number of pharmacists that are scheduled to work every day. Brigham probably has 50 pharmacists a day, which was a lot more than I originally thought.

Any last thoughts, advice, or recommendations for someone who wants to get into pharmacy as a career?

There's more to pharmacy than just working in retail! Network with pharmacists and explore the different specialties and see how you can best utilize a PharmD degree to what you are interested in!

Drinks

Chat more over coffee or tea?