Meera Vijayan is a final-year PharmD candidate at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Pharmacy.
You may have heard the statement “children are not tiny adults,” and with a dedicated interest in pediatrics I knew that to be true. But what happens when you spend most of your 3 years of didactic learning on adult treatments, then start your APPE rotation schedule with four back-to-back pediatric rotations in general pediatrics, pediatric research, pediatric infectious disease, and pediatric ambulatory care?
Well, for someone who has always been interested in pediatrics, I was lucky enough to get to experience it. I am in the Pediatric Degree Option Program at my college, which has allowed me to explore various pediatric opportunities during my pharmacy education. I’m excited to share my experiences with you.
The learning curve
Despite the fact that I had an extensive pediatric elective course that really did provide a strong foundation, nothing can really prepare you to jump straight into a general pediatrics rotation after years of focusing on adult treatment guidelines. Weight became the most important vital sign, and sometimes a gain of 200 grams could be the most exciting thing a patient can accomplish. I felt like I really had to put aside what I had previously learned and change my perspective.
There were so many things I would learn on rounds that were just standard protocol on a pediatrics floor but that we had never learned in school. It was the greatest opportunity to push myself and required a lot of outside work, but it showed me how to adapt to a new environment quickly to still be a useful resource to the team while still being in the role of learner.
Getting comfortable with not knowing
As a student pharmacist, I’m always scared of not knowing the answer when asked. Pharmacists are considered a medication information resource with knowledge ready to share, so it was really humbling to not know the answer to what providers would ask at times. Of course, it’s impossible to always know everything, but it really did make me feel inadequate when I had to tell them I was unsure.
However, not knowing the answers provided me with another skill to work on. When I was caught in this situation, I would simply tell them that I was unsure at the moment and would get back to them after some research. This not only improved my rapport with the team as they saw that I was not simply throwing answers out but also helped me hone in to my drug information research skills. There were so many times I would have to turn to primary literature due to lack of evidence in pediatrics, and this helped me develop well-informed recommendations that my team felt they could trust.
Growing your passion
I was so excited to get the opportunity to start my rotations with all pediatric experiences. I’m looking to pursue a residency at a children’s hospital, so this was a perfect scenario for me. Even though I knew this was my area of interest, I was happily surprised by how much my passion grew during this time. I was able to learn so much about myself as a student pharmacist and got to train with some of the best teams under the guidance of my preceptors.
Although it can be scary, pushing your limits and going out of your comfort zone is something I will never regret because it allowed me to see how amazing working in pediatrics can be and only made me more excited for my future of hopefully working with this population.