If you want to read what I used to carry on a regular basis on my clinical rotations (basically my entire P4 year of pharmacy school), then keep on reading…

Water bottle:  Trust me when I say that you need to make sure that you keep a water bottle or coffee travel mug on you at all times. Sometimes it can be hard to find a vending machine while you’re on rotation so it’s best to just bring your own so you have something to drink throughout the day.  Pro-hack: Drink a sip of water to break up an awkward moment or when someone asks you a question that you aren’t sure of the answer. It gives you a few extra seconds to think of an appropriate response without looking like you’re taking forever to answer.

Snacks: Snacks are a clinical rotation essential! Literally the most important thing on this list, by far. I would say that I’m joking, but I’m totally not. After a few hours working up patients or rounding all morning, a girl can get hungry (or just need a quick snack to eat). I used to either keep snacks in my pockets if I knew that I would be rounding with the team or I would keep them in my bag. My favorites are peanut butter crackers, Gushers, or fruit snacks. Easy pocket size snacks that are tasty!

A Clipboard that has storage: A lot of my fellow students used to carry around a Pocket Clipboard, which has the most common information that would be important as a future pharmacist. It includes things like common lab values, calculation equations, and some information on antibiotics. I didn’t actually have this on rotations, but only because my school created this clinical pearls pocket guide that had a ton of useful information in it.

This is what I carried alongside a clipboard that has a storage compartment to carry around any loose papers, guidelines, presentation materials, and anything else that I needed. If you have a rotation where you spend a lot of time rounding, I promise this will be a lifesaver for you.

Your laptop or iPad: Depending on your rotation, you may or may not want to bring your own laptop or iPad. I would bring my laptop regardless of the rotation so that way I could keep whatever I was working on, such as a project or presentation, on my computer. This way I could continue working on it at home and wouldn’t have to stay at the rotation site to get it done. But this is totally up to you! You do what works best for you. I will say an iPad would’ve came in handy when I was on rotations that included rounding.

Multi-colored pens and highlighters: I used to keep an assortment of different pens and highlighters in my backpack while on rotation. I personally like to write my notes in different colors depending on the topic and highlight things based on the topic area. Another pro tip is that if you have a favorite pen that you always keep with you, keep an extra one of lesser quality that you don’t mind loaning out on your clinical rotation. Because people will borrow your pens and you’ll never see them again.

Portable Charger: Another clinical rotation essential is to bring your chargers, even a portable charger if you have one. I can’t even count the number of times I would have to plug in my phone or computer into an outlet while on rotation. Some rotations you’ll be on your phone or laptop a ton researching things, finding answers to questions, or communicating with the healthcare team. So stay ready and be prepared!

Planner: Personally, my planner comes everywhere with me because you never know when you need to add or substrate something from your schedule. I used the Recollections planner while I was in college, which was a great planner for college students. I’ve been recently using this planner from Cloth + Paper, which is a black owned company that has the cutest planner supplies. I’ve been quite obsessed so you may have seen it on my Instagram stories where I share my day to day life. #shamelessplug

Compression socks: I actually didn’t get compression socks when I was a P4 student, but now that I’m working 12+ hours on my feet as a pharmacist, compression socks are actual life. I wish I would’ve had them for the rotations where I had to round for hours because they would’ve been so helpful. I bought this pair of compression socks on Amazon, and it’s the best $25 I’ve ever spent. I put them on right before going into work for a long shift, and at the end of the day, I still feel pretty good. I mean I’m still exhausted after a long shift, but my feet aren’t as swollen, and they don’t hurt as bad as they used to.

Comfortable shoes: The golden answer that any healthcare professional will tell you about finding comfy shoes is that you have to try a few different options before you find the right shoe. After I started working full-time, I quickly realized that the Sperry slip on sneakers that I had been rocking for 4 years while in pharmacy school were not going to cut it anymore. I quickly snagged up a pair of Rothy’s sneakers to test out, and I can say confidently that I’m hooked. They are so comfy and paired with my compression socks – a dream. (Use my link to get $20 off your first pair to test them out yourself!) I’ve also heard great things about Dansko clogs or Cloves sneakers but haven’t tested those out personally to give you an opinion on them.

What is one item that is your top favorite clinical rotation essential?

The post My Clinical Rotation Essentials for Pharmacy School appeared first on Uniquely Mickie.

Being assigned a topic discussion with no other instructions can be kind of overwhelming. Today, I am sharing 5 tips that can hopefully help you when preparing for your next topic discussion!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Like I mentioned above, you may give your topic discussion to only your preceptor, or to a larger group. Your audience absolutely determines the format of your topic discussion! If there are going to be other students there, whether the same age or younger, I almost find it easier since you can take on the role of “teaching” them about your topic. You can structure your topic discussion to be an interactive worksheet or turn it into a patient case (see more in Tip #3).

However, if it is going to be just you and your preceptor, please don’t make them complete a blank worksheet or ask them to do complete a patient case! Instead, you can lead the discussion by walking through the disease state from EpidemiologyàTreatment (see more in Tip #4) and asking them more clinical and “real practice” questions along the way. If you are unsure of who your audience will be, definitely ask before you start preparing!

HANDOUT, HANDOUT, HANDOUT

You will NEVER regret preparing a handout for your topic discussion, but I’m almost positive you will regret it if you don’t make one. For one, making a handout gives your audience something to look at and follow along with (so they aren’t just looking at you the whole time)! It also makes it much easier for you to stay organized and on track, even if the discussion gets off-topic for a few minutes when someone asks a question. Keep your handouts clean, simple, and SHORT! My gold standard is one page, front and back, plus a separate drug table. Obviously if there are patient cases, it may end up being longer and that’s okay! Make sure you print out the handouts beforehand, and that you have MORE than enough for your expected audience (no one wants to be the person who didn’t bring enough handouts so people have to share).

However, make sure you have more information prepared then just what’s on your handout. You don’t want to just be reading to your audience off the page that everyone has in front of them. In fact, make a separate document for yourself that has the extra information that you want to say. That’s what I did in the Atrial Fibrillation topic discussion I gave in May. I would have my notes and the first page of the topic discussion side by side when leading the discussion. Sometimes it may also make sense to include a drug table!

 MAKE IT INTERACTIVE!

Imagine how bored you would be if you were forced to sit for 30 minutes to an hour and listen to someone else just talk nonstop about a disease state and its drug therapies? Topic discussions are meant to be interactive! Like I mentioned before, how you do that depends on your audience. If there are other students there, make them work! Give them a drug table with blanks or organize the entire topic discussion around patient cases (that’s what I did in the VTE topic discussion I gave on my Internal Med rotation).

 If the topic discussion is going to be you and those older than you, like a resident and a preceptor, make it interactive by preparing questions that only THEY can know the answer to. My go-to question is something like, “Does this guideline recommendation actually make sense in real clinical practice?”, or “Do you ever see this third-line therapy actually being used in the patients you see?”. Asking questions like these gives you a break from talking, engages your preceptor, and also teaches you something, so huge win!

There are multiple ways to make a sit-down, table topic discussion interactive, so don’t be afraid to have some fun with it! Your audience will appreciate it!

BE ORGANIZED

Organization while leading a topic discussion is KEY, both for you and your audience. I find it really helpful to structure your discussion in a way that you would normally learn or “map” a disease state. Starting from top to bottom, a typical flow starts with Background and Pathophysiology, then goes to Clinical Presentation and Diagnosis, and finally to Treatment. As pharmacists, the Treatment is what we tend to focus the most on! I included a screenshot below of a topic discussion I led on Dementia, so you can see the order that I used. I almost ALWAYS include a drug table as an addendum to my handout. After all, we care the most about the drugs! Also, making a drug table can help you prepare for a lot of the questions your preceptor will be asking you!

LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS

Like I mentioned above, you will probably sit in on a lot of topic discussions before you will be leading one. As a younger student, seek those opportunities out! You know that you will be in their shoes one day and will be doing the same thing. Use those early topic discussions to learn what you like and what you don’t like as an audience member. I remember on my first pharmacy rotation, I sat in on a topic discussion lead by a resident and was super impressed. I saved that handout and have used it since this day as a guide for my topic discussions. Never say no to attending someone else’s topic discussion who you respect and admire! Save those handouts and you will be that much more prepared when it comes time for your turn.

 Hopefully these 5 tips will help you out when it comes time to prepare and lead your first topic discussion!

MEET ERIN

Erin Mays is a current fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy. Just this year, she started a blog titled “Erin Mays PharmD” to document her pharmacy journey throughout fourth-year APPE rotations and the residency application process. She is passionate about the field of pharmacy and the opportunities for pharmacists to play a direct role in patient care, and is currently in the midst of the application process for clinical pharmacy residencies. Her goals with her blog are to share her stories and lessons learned while training as a future pharmacist.

You may also like: 5 Tips to Help You Stay Motivated in Pharmacy School, What to Do if You Fail A Class in Pharmacy School, and The Subtle Art of Acing Your Pharmacy Rotations 

The post 5 Tips to Creating an Amazing Topic Discussion appeared first on Uniquely Mickie.