Kiarah Shchepanik, Oshawa/Peterborough

Kiarah Shchepanik, Rx2021 - Oshawa/Peterborough

Navigating the region

Oshawa / Peterborough had a great variety of rotation sites including hospital, LTC, family health team, independent and chain community pharmacies. It's close to Toronto but also has lots of outdoor activities to enjoy during the summer months.

Unfortunately, due to COVID we were not able to get together as a student group in person. Our Regional Clinical Coordinator was great at checking in with us all individually multiple times via MS Teams throughout the 6 months.

Additionally, we met as a group on MS Teams at least once every rotation to catch up, hear about each others experiences and ask questions.

Practice site descriptions

My first rotation was at Medical Pharmacies Group Ltd [now called CareRx] where I worked with a Long Term Care Clinical Consulting Pharmacist. She managed approximately 20 LTC homes in our region and together we conducted medication reviews on residents and worked to solve DTPs alongside the nursing team and physicians.

My second rotation was at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences where I worked with my preceptor on a general adult psychiatric ward. I participated on daily rounds and worked closely with the psychiatrists, social workers, physician assistants and nursing team to care for our admitted patients.

My final rotation was at Pharmacy Associates of Port Perry which is an independent community pharmacy in a small town. Here I helped to run the COVID vaccine clinic as well as other professional services within the pharmacy. We serviced a neighbouring hospice and I aided in educating nursing staff on narcotic handling, destruction and documentation practices. Additionally, the pharmacy had a partnership with a local retirement home and once a week I would go there and conduct meds checks for residents.

The usual pharmacy resources were helpful during rotations (ie. Lexicomp, UpToDate, eCPS). During my time at Ontario Shores, I used SwitchRx quite a bit for transitioning between antidepressants and antipsychotics. While in community, I spent time reviewing Med Sask Minor Ailments Guidelines.

Advice for future students

Go into each rotation with an open mind and ready to learn at every opportunity that is presented to you. Email your preceptor 2-3 weeks in advance of starting your rotation and ask about where to meet the first day, dress code, readings, etc. They are very busy and can often take a little while to get back to you.

Reach out to previous students who did their placement at your rotation site. Find out what they liked and what they wished they could change. See what opportunities they had so that you can go in and suggest those same opportunities for yourself.