Navreet, a 4th year pharmacy student at the University of Waterloo shares her venture in the healthcare system.
Nav started off her first co-op term as a Pharmacy student at Rexall Pharmacy in Mississauga. Her role varied from dispensing and filling medication to counselling and doing medication reviews with patients.
She then spent her second co-op term at Grand River Hospital in the medicine unit. Her role involved getting medication histories, following up with patients throughout their stay and attending patient rounds.
Nav spent her third co-op term at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitiation Hospital which focused on pediatric care. This co-op term was different from the others, as it was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, where she adjusted to provide pharmaceutical services virtually when possible, to limit in-person exposure.
“Stay open to new experiences. You never know what you will learn. In each co-op I saw myself building confidence.”
What projects were you apart of during your co-op term at Holland Bloorview?
Nav says, “At Holland Bloorview, I presented a formularly review. The hospital formulary is basically the medications that are stocked and covered in the hospital. I performed an extensive review of the literature and reviewed the utilization of probiotics in pediatrics at the hospital itself and in neighboring hospitals, and I provided a cost-effective recommendation to stock a certain probiotic at Holland Bloorview. I presented my recommendation to the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee at Holland Bloorview, and my recommendation was approved, which was pretty cool.
During my time at Holland Bloorview, I was also part of an interprofessional structured clinical placement, where I had the opportunity to work with various students and other students in the hospital from different professions to come up with a definition for the hospital itself. While I was there, I also made a presentation called a spotlight on pharmacy to advocate for the pharmacy profession and what we actually do in the hospital. I also created a bunch of patient friendly medication handouts for the Psychopharmacology Clinic at Holland Bloorview. These are essentially one-to-two page handouts that highlight all the important information regarding certain higher risk medications, for parents and caregivers.”
Which work term was your favourite and why?
If I had to choose, I loved all of them. I really liked my hospital experience at Grand River as well. I would say Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital was my favorite. The reason would be just because I love working with kids and being in the pediatric setting.
