Growing up, I was terrible at sports. After a decade of bench-warming for church-league soccer and basketball games and feeling a little like a misfit, this nerd found her niche: musical theater. I started doing plays with a group called the Pilgrim Players when I was in sixth grade. I played Flower #3 and Milkmaid #6 in Beauty and the Beast, and from there, I was hooked, acting and singing my way through middle school and high school in every music- and/or theater-related afterschool activity possible.

In spite of my love for storytelling through both choir and acting, the curtain call on my acting career came with my senior year of high school. This is because, at the end of the day, my one true passion is and always will be pharmacy. This was evident all throughout high school. For example, during one night of tech week for Into the Woods, I sprinted multiple times over the course of 4 hours—in full costume and character shoes—from the theater down two hallways to the computer lab to write a paper in between my scenes. I may have twisted my ankle, but I got an A on the paper and never missed my chance to play Jack’s Mom. During most other rehearsals throughout the years, I would sit in the pitch-black audience’s seats with a book light to finish homework, to the loving teasing of my castmates and directors alike.

Over the next year, I will share my unique experiences while on rotation. To speak honestly and openly with you, I will write this column anonymously under the name “Ami.” It is my hope to provide you with insights about rotations and the many pharmacy opportunities I encounter.

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“Who’s next? Please line up.” I watched as the medical technician tugged the gown over his arms and wrapped his face with the shielded mask. He walked over to the front of the bed and braced himself to climb onto the CPR step stool as the nurse stepped away from the patient’s chest.

The classroom didactic portion of pharmacy school education is essential for the development of foundational pharmacy knowledge. However, in our opinion, time spent in the classroom exclusively can limit the growth and maturation of students in other areas.

Our (Robbie and Luke) recent experiences with coordinated activities based in the community provided us with background on how to best maximize clinical rotations and learning 
opportunities outside the classroom. 

Wow, “Ami,” it sounds like you had quite a humbling experience, and just at the start of rotations. I know it can be terrifying to be on a new rotation as a student pharmacist, especially in an unfamiliar setting. Often you are given very little guidance as you begin patient care in a new setting. Some preceptors are more apt to give you detailed instructions while others hope you will pick up the day-to-day expectations on your own.

As a student, it is very easy to observe the actions of your preceptor and mimic them, but if every student pharmacist only mimicked their preceptors, innovation in pharmacy practice would be limited. The pharmacist’s role on the health care team has expanded tremendously in recent years not due to imitated behavior, but rather to pharmacy innovators. I wish I had been in the room during the first conversation where a pharmacist provided an antibiotic recommendation or when a pharmacist noticed a high serum creatinine on a patient and suggested a dose adjustment to the team. 

Traveling from across the country, 237 student pharmacists met in Washington, DC, at the 2018 APhA–ASP Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) in July. Supported by an educational grant provided by Merck, SLI provides professional development and leadership skills to APhA–ASP student leaders, along with teaching them the importance of taking action within legislative and patient care activities.

On Friday morning, student pharmacists gathered at the Rayburn House Office Building to hear from Reps. Raul Ruiz, MD, (D–CA); Buddy Carter, BSPharm, (R–GA); and Markwayne Mullin (R–OK). Shortly after, 215 student pharmacists took to Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of the profession, conducting more than 150 meetings with their legislators and aides about the importance of having pharmacists on the health care team, and why pharmacists and their services should be recognized in Medicare Part B (H.R. 592/S. 109).