Tharsika Sinnathamby, Rx2018 - Ottawa including the suburb of Kanata
Navigating the region
The Regional Clinical Coordinator (RCC) of Ottawa, Jason Wentzell, is a pleasant and experienced pharmacist who was supportive, encouraging, organized and accessible throughout my rotations. He made the transition from school to rotations very easy by always keeping the group up to date on what had to be done from administrative requirements, expectations to preparing us for our first rotation. The meeting we had in our first week to go over how to write a care plan using examples was very helpful. Furthermore, Jason always took initiative to ensure I had a positive work environment and that I got opportunities to meet my learning objectives through regular emails. He even took the time to do a site visit during my first rotation. The regular communication was reassuring and served as guidance for my learning. Moreover, Jason was supportive of the group’s learning throughout the term by informing us about pharmacy meetings outside of our rotations. I appreciate Jason’s effort for finding me opportunities when I expressed my interests.
Practice site descriptions
A valuable skill I acquired during my patient care rotations is clinical reasoning. With the exposure to many patient cases under the training of numerous expert pharmacists, I was able to see how each of them approached a case. With these experiences, I was able to put together a template of my own clinical thought process that works best for me.
Advice for future students
At times you may experience the “just a pharmacy student” syndrome, the fear that you are just a pharmacy student and it is not sufficient to answer the many questions asked by patients and preceptors. The knowledge will come. My advice is to embrace being a pharmacy student and use the ample time you have to seize opportunities, face challenges, ask questions and learn from others.