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My First Pharmacy Rotation Experience

by Kaleena Johnson, P4 student pharmacist, University of Michigan College of Pharmacy

My first P4 rotation was in drug information at the University of Michigan Health System. Contrary to the formidable reports I heard about drug information, I thoroughly enjoyed this rotation. The Drug Information Center received calls during the day from doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals inquiring about a wide array of topics. Some were simple drug interactions and others required much more time to answer, often several days. This experience was comparable to being a detective and I was continually challenged to find the right answer for our callers.

Each morning, we would meet with the pharmacists at the drug information center and talk about our calls from the previous day. This gave us a great opportunity to learn from our colleagues and gain insight into how we can better answer a question or find additional resources. These morning meetings also gave us the opportunity to get to know our preceptors on a more individual and personal level.

My projects consisted of writing a drug monograph and preparing a presentation on that drug to determine if we should add it to our inpatient formulary. For an additional project, I had the opportunity to write an article for the Pharmacy For UM newsletter. Both of these projects provided great experiences in areas that I was not familiar or comfortable working in. In addition, they were challenging in that I had to alter my style of writing to fit the situation. Each will be a great resource when the time comes for me to start interviewing for positions. Overall, drug information was a great rotation and I know that the lessons I learned here will be beneficial throughout my career.

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