Job description, who needs a job description?

Since my last post I have started my second internship for the summer. As I mentioned last time, I received a last minute internship offer from Washington Hospital Center and have since left Walgreens to being my new work. I was thrilled when WHC contacted me about the position. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed my time with Walgreens, but I haven't had any hospital experience so I jumped at the chance to get an inside look.

The initial word about the position, the interview and the job offer all came very quickly. My interview was a two-parter. The first part was with a non-clinical Manager. Then I interviewed with the Assistant Pharmacy Director. She was in between meetings and had only two minutes to answer my questions about the position. "What kinds of projects will I be working on this summer," was met with "we're not sure, you're the first intern we've had." Then she briefly described a project she thought I might work on and closed the interview with, "this position is going to require a lot of flexibility because we're not really sure what you're going to be doing, so if you're not up for that then this isn't the spot for you." I said what anyone else would say, "sign me up!"

I'm still not certain what my job entails, but I'm just going with the flow and doing my best sponge impression (soaking everything up). So far I have spent a lot of time in an area they call DDLP. No one knows what DDLP stands for, apparently it has something to do with the label printer. Basically, labels pop out of the machine, I grab them up and pull the appropriate drugs from the pharmacy shelves. After that the pharmacist checks the drug and sends it to the correct floor. When there's down time, I dust off my brain in preparation for pop quizzes - see below.

The Pharmacy Director cornered me on my first day and quizzed me on atropine. I faired well until he started in on pharmacology. Yikes! He apparently taught pharmacology at a nearby college for 30 years, so my "umm, I think..." answers did not suffice. He quickly sensed my uneasiness with the topic and instead of drilling me on it, he recapped the basics as they related to the MOA of atropine and now I will never forget its actions (or side effects). I think I will put that in the "success" column.

Now whenever I see him I know to be ready to answer medication questions. I have quickly learned that if I touch a drug, or even look at it, I should know its brand/generic name, what it's used for and at least one major side effect. I think this summer is going to be a good warm-up for rotations.

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In other news, our sand volleyball team is undefeated. I have managed to bring home enough sand in my shorts to create a small beach in the front yard (kidding). This weekend will be another big sports weekend. We have a kickball tourney on the National Mall on Saturday, followed by football playoffs on Sunday. I hope to be able to walk on Monday, this getting older thing is for the birds! Oh, and for you baseball fans, I got to see Stephen Stasburg pitch (and win) his first Major League game last Friday. Woohoo! City life is not too bad, except for the water - my hair is not pleased, too much chlorine.