Dan Posliff, Rx2019 - London and Strathroy
Navigating the region
The London region provides an opportunity to practice in both rural and urban locations, in a variety of different towns and cities. There are lots of other students in the region, including healthcare students in nursing, medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, dietetics and other programs. London is home to a large hospital network, and is an important research centre for medicine in Canada. The city offers lots of amenities and entertainment options, but it’s easy to get out of the city to explore the smaller surrounding towns as well.
When not working or studying I liked to spend time working out. There are a variety of fitness centres in the London area, including in the smaller surrounding towns. There are also recreational facilities with basketball courts, arenas, tennis courts and rock climbing. I also enjoy playing and listening to music. There are many great venues in the area where bands come to play. Budweiser Gardens is the largest of these venues and hosts most of the big acts that come to the area. I also like going out to eat and London has lots of great restaurants, including Black Trumpet, Garlic’s, Fellini Koolini’s, and The Bungalow.
London has many students throughout the year, as it’s home to Western University and Fanshawe College. There are lots of opportunities to find short-term housing through rentals or sublets. Public transportation is primarily provided by buses, and the city is developing a bus rapid transit system to improve the existing transit.
Our regional coordinator has a lot of experience working in the region, and is familiar with the different practice sites. We met once monthly as a group to discuss how our placements were going and share any resources that could be helpful. We also had a journal club that took place over the span of three meetings, during which we presented an interesting journal article in groups of 3-4 students. Our regional coordinator was always available if we had any questions, and was quick to get back to us.
Practice
site descriptions
My first rotation was at University Hospital in London, which is part of the London Health Sciences Centre network of hospitals. University Hospital is a large teaching hospital on the Western University campus, with specialties in neurology, stroke and multi-organ transplant. University Hospital is home to a diverse group of different healthcare professionals, students and residents (both medicine and pharmacy). My first month on this rotation was spent on general surgery floor, where I worked primarily with my preceptor and nurses. Much of the communication with prescribers was through a computer platform that allowed for recommendations to be suggested, accepted and implemented. My second month at University Hospital was spent on the neurology floor, where I worked with medical residents, nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, dieticians and social workers. The Neurology unit cared for patients with conditions like MS, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and stroke. My work at University Hospital primarily involved working up patients, developing pharmaceutical care plans, making recommendations and following patients throughout their stay in the hospital. I also answered drug information questions and completed a project that provided physicians with an easily accessible guide to help dose resuscitation medications for pediatric patients.
My second rotation was split between Bossons Pharmacy in Strathroy and the Strathroy site of the Thames Valley Family Health Team. Bossons Pharmacy is an independent community pharmacy that has been operating out of downtown Strathroy for several decades. I was responsible for verifying prescriptions, counselling patients, and answering questions as they came up. I also spent a lot of time researching drug information questions and making recommendations based on my findings. This practice site taught me a lot about community pharmacy practice in a small town and developing strong patient relationships.
The Strathroy site of the Thames Valley Family Health Team offers a range of healthcare services to patients of the clinic. I worked alongside physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dieticians, social workers and other clinic staff. This was a collaborative environment, and other healthcare professionals frequently dropped by our office to ask questions and seek recommendations. This was my first experience with a family health team, and it was great to be able to experience this appointment-based type of pharmacy practice. I spent two days each week at the clinic and this was a valuable component of my primary care rotation. My work at the clinic was primarily doing smoking cessation, diabetes education, respiratory education, mental health, and answering drug information questions.
My third rotation was at Shoppers Drug Mart in Strathroy. I worked with my preceptor as well as several other pharmacists during the day, which provided many opportunities to ask questions and see a variety of approaches to the various roles of a pharmacist. Much of my focus for the rotation was in conducting medication reviews, identifying drug therapy problems and making recommendations to prescribers. On any given day I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of other activities like administering injections, answering drug information questions, counselling patients, verifying prescriptions, making recommendations for OTC products, and dispensing methadone.
My institutional rotation gave me a lot of experience with developing pharmaceutical care plans and critically appraising literature. My rotations in community pharmacies reinforced the importance of developing effective therapeutic relationships with patients. I also had the opportunity to develop my skills in documentation and follow-up. My experience in the family health team helped me to improve my listening skills and emphasized the importance of patient-centred care. I learned a lot about how to ask the right questions in order to get to the heart of the patient’s concerns, and to make decisions with a patient such that they feel empowered and motivated to help themselves to succeed.
One of the most helpful resources that I came across on this rotation was the Southwest Healthline, which provides useful links to healthcare resources in the region. All the resources can be organized by medical condition/speciality and by location. This resource was helpful in referring patients to providers and programs from which they could benefit. The School of Pharmacy library website was probably the most helpful resource in terms of finding clinical information needed to practice.
Advice for future students
Clinical rotations are an opportunity to apply the information that you studied over the past three years in school. Try to take advantage of this and experience as many clinical areas as you can. This will help you to have a well-rounded experience and consolidate a range of information that you learned in lectures.
Try to put yourself out there and talk with as many different people as you can, both in pharmacy as well as other professions. Not only will this improve your understanding of what other professionals have to offer, it’s also a great way to network and show that you value building professional relationships.
Have an open mind about every rotation and every practice setting. There will naturally be certain rotations that you will be more excited about than others, but sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy working in a particular setting. If you have a positive outlook you will make the best of each rotation and find out which areas interest you.
Put in the effort to get to know coworkers other than just your preceptor. Building relationships is important in pharmacy, and this includes the people you work with. If you put in the effort to get to know the pharmacy assistants, registered technicians, pharmacists and non-pharmacy staff you will enjoy your placements more and be a more effective member of the team.