Student Rotations in Pharmacy Informatics
by
Brandon Ordway
The last several years have provided for significant growth in our pharmacy schools’ curriculums to include various facets of pharmacy informatics and technology. Some have chosen to include stand-alone classes in pharmacy informatics, either as mandatory or elective options, and others as various topics and lectures scattered throughout several courses. This has had a great impact on our future workforce as it exposes students to a non-traditional opportunity within health-system pharmacy. Additionally, does any pharmacist not use some sort of computers or informatics as part of their job these days? Providing for the basics of pharmacy informatics positively impacts pharmacists in all practice settings.
I personally started a Health Informatics APPE rotation with the University of Minnesota five years ago. There was one other informatics student rotation in the state so obviously there was an opportunity for another one! When creating the rotation there were a just a few resources that existed to help me out, as the profession was really still defining what pharmacy informatics was! Now there is a plethora of information and resources out there. The Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology website provides for a sample informatics student rotation description, a student informatics informational brochure, and lots of other pertinent information on informatics residencies and those pursuing careers in pharmacy informatics.
So what value can a student on an informatics rotation provide to the organization? Lots! I’ve found a wide variety of interests, talents, and reasons why students have signed up for my rotation (e.g., “I want to be an informatics pharmacist” to “it sounded cool” or even “I had no idea what I was signing up for”). I’ve had students ranging from no health-system pharmacy experience to those with computer programming degrees to those pursing advanced education in health informatics! Customizing the rotation to the students’ abilities and interests is key to having the student engaged in the rotation and provide meaningful value back to the organization. No matter what the students’ prior experience is I’ve found that having them spend several days in the central pharmacy observing the various operational workflows and interactions with the automation and electronic health record system is beneficial for the students. Additionally, I typically have the student spend a day with a decentral clinical pharmacist so they have that perspective as well. Once the foundation has been built the first week of the rotation, the student typically spends the final weeks of the rotation attending meetings, working on projects, doing independent readings, and having topic discussion with myself or other members of the team. Typically a student will complete one or two large projects, five or six smaller ones, and student projects that will get handed off to future students.
I also choose to include operations and leadership components within my student informatics rotation. First, it is part of my job. Second, informatics and operational knowledge are synergistic with each other. Lastly, all students need continued leadership exposure for growth. Although formal leadership components don’t necessarily need to be part of an informatics rotation, having a basic understanding of project management, change management, and communication principles are vital within pharmacy informatics.
So please start a student rotation in pharmacy informatics today! There continues to be a need to expose students to informatics, technology, and the many other opportunities within this field of pharmacy. Once taught the basics about the medication-use systems within the pharmacy the student can provide tremendous value to the organization. If you would like a copy of my rotation description or if there are questions about my rotation, then feel free to contact me or leave a comment!