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Wow, isn’t it crazy that January is already half over?!  I don’t know about anywhere else, but being in Minnesota where the daily temps are below zero really makes me anxious for spring. One thing nice about the cold weather, it’s given me plenty of time to look back at my rotation experiences.

I think my biggest question going into rotations was, “Will I be able to get the experiences that I’m looking for?” It all looks great on paper before you start, but you really end up asking yourself, “How are they going to turn out?” So far, everything has turned out fairly well:

• þ Practice pharmacy in a state outside of the Midwest
• þ Round with the inpatient medicine team and make recommendations
• þ Become confident in giving immunizations
• þ Get more experience in pharmacy administration
• þ Independently complete an MTM session
• þ Get more experience in consultant pharmacy
• þ Watch the 49ers win Super Bowl XLVIII (maybe next year)

If I could do it all over again, there would be a few things that I would change and a few words of advice that I might take a little more seriously…..

1. Location isn’t everything. Although it’s cool to be able to go somewhere new and exciting, I would also make sure that the rotation is cool and exciting. Remember, you only get so many of these rotations to figure out what you like before you’re off in the real world.
2. What you put into the rotation is what you’re going to get out of it. Having a good preceptor is really important, but if you don’t put in the effort you won’t get much out of the rotation.
3. Enjoy your rotations. Pharmacy school is stressful and at times can be overwhelming. Rotations are the time for you to relax and really enjoy what you’re doing.

I wish all of the residency candidates the best of luck on interviews this coming month! Our ASHP student advisory group posted a great journal article this month on residency interviews. You can find the link at: http://connect.ashp.org/communities/viewcommunitydiscussions/viewthread/?GroupId=163&MID=26776

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading!