Other Student Activities

Other than the required student project, the student may take part in other projects and activities assigned by the preceptor.  The preceptor may assign additional projects/activities to benefit the pharmacy and to strengthen the student's skills in a particular area.  If the preceptor is aware of a tool that would improve patient care at the pharmacy, such as an educational brochure, then they can assign this task to the student.

 Students on their Advanced Community Practice Rotations should have the opportunity to experience all services offered at the rotation site, including prescription dispensing and patient counseling.  However, the student should not spend all of their time in a “pharmacy technician” role.  The preceptor may choose to use the dispensing experience to generate discussion topics.  For example, if a student is dispensing a prescription for a steroid inhaler, the preceptor may use the opportunity to discuss counseling points for the inhaler, and then may allow the student to counsel the patient on the product.  The student may also be required to check doses on all prescriptions dispensed to pediatric patients.  The student may be utilized to address common issues in the pharmacy – for example, if a mistake was made on a written prescription, the student may call the doctor’s office for verification or to make an intervention.  The preceptor should schedule these dispensing activities into the student’s week so that they will know when they are expected to participate in dispensing activities.  Our hope is that students will add extra services to the pharmacy environment to enhance patient care and prevent prescription errors, and that they will not just serve as an extra pharmacy technician.   

During times of the day that typically have many patients picking up prescriptions, the student may be assigned to counsel patients for a block of time.  Counseling activities should include prescription and nonprescription medications as well as medical devices.  If applicable, time may be blocked for the student to spend in the compounding lab doing pharmaceutical calculations and actually compounding a variety of dosage forms. 

1. New drug presentation – Student prepares monograph on recently approved drug and does a mini-presentation for pharmacy staff on assigned drug; focus on how this drug compares to other drugs on the market and on how this drug may impact clinical practice.
2. Journal club – student selects a journal article from a peer reviewed journal on a topic relating to community pharmacy or ambulatory care practice.  Evaluate study design, strengths/weaknesses of the research, and the impact of the article on clinical practice. 
3. Article Review – Student reads an article about a new service or piece of equipment and presents to preceptor.  Focus on whether the service / equipment would work at that particular rotation site. 
4. Current Event discussion – If a pharmacy related or health related current event is being reported on in the news, the student will read articles in print and online and may watch news programs on TV about the current event topic.  The student will present findings to the preceptor and discuss whether they agree or disagree with the information being presented to the public.  As a result of this exercise the student should be able to competently answer questions from patients regarding the current event topic. 
5. Guideline review – Read treatment guidelines for a disease state and review them with preceptor, especially as new guidelines are published and older guidelines are updated.  If student has chosen their formal project, this should guide treatment guideline selection (for example, if student is implementing a blood pressure screening, the preceptor and student may want to discuss JNC IV guidelines before the student performs the screening)
6. Patient education materials – Create brochure or handout for patients on a topic that pharmacists are frequently asked about.  Examples:  calcium supplementation or nonprescription drug use in pregnancy.
7. Product pulled from market / drug recalled – Student will be responsible for removing product from pharmacy shelf and sending it back to manufacturer.  Student will also call patients when necessary, explain the reasons for product recall, and arrange for product return.  Physicians should also be notified of which of their patients were on the recalled medication so that an alternative can be prescribed. 
8. Law review / board exam review – preceptor may prepare law review quizzes or other materials to assist student in preparing for board exams.  Law topics may also be reviewed and discussed as they come up in daily pharmacy practice. 
9. Counseling – Students should get as much patient counseling experience as possible, which includes prescription as well as nonprescription and herbal medications.  Student may periodically walk through the OTC medication section of the pharmacy offering to answer patient questions or counsel on OTC products. 
10. Compounding – Students should be given the opportunity to compound each dosage form made and dispensed at the rotation site.  They should also be expected to write up the compound formula and complete any pharmaceutical calculations that are required to make the compounded medication.  The student should then council patient on appropriate use of the product. 
11. Community Outreach – Students should be involved in community health fairs and screenings in the area during their rotation.  They should also be encouraged to present a health topic to community groups in the area (for example, churches, senior centers, schools) or volunteer at a free medical clinic. 
12. Patient case presentation – Student will formally present a pharmacologic plan for a patient based on an actual patient encounter in the pharmacy.  This could involve an encounter regarding prescription or nonprescription treatments. 
13. Drug Information Question write-up – For each drug information question the student answers during the course of the rotation they will formally write up the question and their answer to the question.  The student will record what references were used to compile the answer to the question.  Drug information questions may be from patients, other pharmacists, or from other health care professionals. 
14. Herbal product presentation – Student will choose an herbal product -- preferably one that is frequently asked about at that practice site – and they will prepare a presentation for the pharmacy staff on their chosen product.  The presentation should include a review of the literature to determine the safety and effectiveness of the product.  The student must provide their opinion on whether they would recommend this product to their patient.  The student should also include counseling points and a patient handout on the herbal product. 
15. Therapeutic Controversy presentation – the student will choose a controversial topic applicable to the community pharmacy setting and will prepare a presentation arguing both sides of the controversy.  The student will use primary references, tertiary references, and treatment guidelines to support their own opinion of the controversy. 
16. Empathy assignment – Assign a disease state to a student and they will pretend to have the disease for a period of time.  For example, if the student is assigned diabetes, they will have to check their blood glucose several times daily, eat according to diabetic diet, exercise, take “medicine” (placebos), inject saline subcutaneously, perform daily foot exams, etc. 
17. Newsletter articles – if the rotation site or the community has a newsletter, have the student write and submit an article for the newsletter.  The student could also create a patient newsletter for the rotation site filled with seasonal health advice, such as advice about selecting sunscreens in the summer. 

Depending on the needs of the preceptor and of the student, the preceptor may choose to allow the student to spend a couple of days outside of the rotation site interacting with other professionals.  The scope of these interactions will depend on the preceptor’s professional contacts and comfort level, as well as the geographic area of the rotation site.  These electives will be especially helpful after the student chooses their formal project topic so that the elective may involve this topic. 

1. Day with Drug Representative – Student may spend a day rounding with a drug representative to observe techniques used to market drugs to health care professionals. 
2. Day with District Manager or at Corporate Office – When possible geographically, student may spend a day with the District Manager over their practice site.  They should learn about the District Manager’s job responsibilities and how they differ from a Pharmacy Manager.  If the Corporate Office is close geographically, the student may visit and learn about the jobs of the support staff and Director of Pharmacy. 
3. Day with other healthcare professional – For example, if the student is planning to implement a diabetes education service, the preceptor may choose to allow the student to spend a day with a nutritionist in the area discussing meal plans for patients with diabetes.  Alternatively, if the student is planning a pain management service, going on rounds with a Hospice nurse may be helpful. 
4. The preceptor may choose to send the student to another community pharmacy in the area for a couple of days if that pharmacy offers services that the rotation site does not offer.  For example, if the rotation site does not have a compounding service, the preceptor could network with a compounding pharmacy in the area to allow the student to get some compounding experience. 
5. Marketing Seminars – Many communities have a Chamber of Commerce that offers free or low cost seminars on business topics such as marketing.  The preceptor or student may research seminars being offered and determine which ones might benefit the student when marketing their project to patients and other healthcare professionals. 
6. Volunteering – If there is a free or reduced cost medical clinic in the area, the student may volunteer for a day.  If the clinic has a pharmacy the student may help dispense medications and council patients.  If the clinic does not have a pharmacy at the facility, the preceptor may arrange for the student to take medical histories, council patients, and/or shadow a physician.