Be comfortable with being uncomfortable
By “Grace”
Hello to all my student pharmacist friends! I hope everyone is doing well. With my APPEs coming close to an end, I want to thank everyone who has spent time reading my articles for the past couple of months. I will reveal my identity soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I will reflect on my January and February rotations.
Discovering my love for inpatient cardiology
In January, I came back to my usual health care system and had an inpatient cardiology rotation. If you have been following me for a while, you’d know that I haven’t had an inpatient rotation since May 2021, so I was definitely nervous for that switch of being primarily outpatient back to inpatient. The transition was hard, but nonetheless fun and challenging.
My average day during this rotation consisted of working up patients, presenting my medication suggestions to my preceptor, and doing rounds for around 2 to 3 hours each morning with the team before a break for lunch. My afternoons depended on the day and were usually filled with topic discussions, in-service presentations to the team, deliverables (journal club, case presentation, etc.), and counseling with patients who were being discharged.
While there, I learned about the importance of medications before and after procedures like percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass graft, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and more. Pharmacy is heavily utilized on this cardiology service, as medications like anticoagulants and antiplatelet therapy are so important. I learned so much about cardiology, and I ended up loving it! I thought I was only interested in outpatient/ambulatory care pharmacy, but this inpatient experience really opened my eyes to the importance of staying flexible regarding my career path.
A busy month
In February, I went back to the outpatient setting for another ambulatory care rotation. I enjoy every ambulatory care experience I can get, as I think that is where I want to focus my career. (Then again, January’s inpatient cardiology rotation is making me question this!)
During this month, I focused heavily on chronic disease management. I worked on identifying patients who would benefit from initiating a statin and reaching out to providers and patients to see if they were interested. I also did international normalized ratio (INR) testing, in which patients who are on warfarin come in and get their INR checked. It got to a point where I oversaw the INR visits and dose adjustments. (I loved the autonomy!) I also was in charge of diabetes-related visits and other preventive efforts for patients who were recently hospitalized for a cardiology-related complication.
This rotation taught me the importance of pharmacy outside the hospital. Pharmacy can make an impact in preventing future complications—like micro- and macrovascular complications due to diabetes or events like stroke—through education and suggestions for guideline-directed therapy.
On top of this rotation, residency interviews were in full swing. This was the busiest month of my final year of pharmacy school. I didn’t have the month off, so I juggled a lot of responsibilities. Honestly, I felt like I was drowning at times. To anyone who is thinking about applying for residencies in the future, consider having February be your off-block if you can!
When you are going through a tough time, my advice is to remember your “why.” Why do you want to be a pharmacist? Why do you want to help people? Why are you pushing yourself to do your best? I use times like these to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I see it as a time of growth, learning, and showing what I am made of, which is my “why” for this year. I want you to know that I am rooting you on, future pharmacist!
For our preceptor feedback author
Match Day has arrived for our final-year student pharmacists. What tips or advice do you have for those who matched and those who did not initially match?