Pharmacy Internship
The Children’s Mercy Clinical Pharmacy Intern Program is designed to allow currently enrolled pharmacy students to grow professionally and academically while being immersed in a clinical hospital pharmacy experience. Clinical interns begin their training by functioning first as a pharmacy technician. Interns will participate in all duties of the pharmacy, including sterile and non-sterile compounding, dose preparation, medication delivery, unit dose packaging, and other necessary systems operations. After students are fully competent in the technician role, they will begin clinical training to advance into the intern role. Once proficient in both technician and clinical intern duties, students will typically alternate between pharmacy technician and clinical intern shifts.
Coursework
As the clinical pharmacy intern progresses in their coursework, their responsibilities increase. Clinical interns will learn to interview families regarding patients’ documented adverse drug reactions. They will also learn to perform certain medication teachings for discharge patient counseling, including but not limited to: DiaStat, EpiPen, Lovenox, specialty medications, and maintenance medications for cardiac patients. These medications are life-saving, and it is essential that families (and patients who are of age) be completely confident administering and monitoring them. Clinical interns educate families on the indication, dosing, schedule, potential side effects, and other special pearls regarding the medications that the patient will need to take at home.
The interns will transition from working with the emergency department pharmacists to being stationed in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with a PICU pharmacist. The interns will assist in recording daily lab values for patients and shadow the pharmacist during certain procedures and rounds with the health care team. They will continue to perform and document medication histories, adverse drug reaction assessments, and patient medication teachings. They will also have the opportunity to participate in topic discussions with the pharmacist over clinical issues, such as TPN formulations, fluid replacement, therapeutic drug monitoring, ECMO, and others, in addition to learning about medications.
Research
Throughout the program, clinical interns have the opportunity to participate in research projects, present posters, publish articles, and shadow other hospital pharmacists in various specialties. They gain valuable experience reading and documenting in patient charts. Interns and pharmacists also meet quarterly to provide updates on projects and workflow and to modify the program as new opportunities arise.
*Note: Clinical Pharmacy Intern duties, responsibilities, and opportunities are subject to vary based on personal competency, staffing requirements, and program evolution.*
About Our Preceptors
Clinical pharmacy interns will work with a variety of pharmacists and preceptors. As they begin training, interns will work with the emergency department pharmacists. Once they advance to the next step of the program, they will work with the pediatric critical care pharmacists. Our preceptors have a large variety of educational backgrounds, in addition to years of valuable experience, and love sharing their knowledge with students. They provide interns with opportunities for hands-on experiences, challenge them to think critically, and serve as a resource for networking and advice.
Outpatient Pharmacy Interns
Children's Mercy also staffs clinical interns in the outpatient pharmacy. In addition to performing pharmacy technician duties (prescription data entry, filling, and dispensing, etc.), they also:
- Counsel patients and caregivers on new prescriptions;
- Review prescriptions - verification step prior to filling a prescription (checking that the correct patient, drug, dose, allergies, directions, etc. are listed); and
- Conduct "Meds to Beds" discharge counseling on the inpatient floors.
Apply
To apply, please visit our careers page.
"Children's Mercy offers a well-rounded program for students to learn and grow as professionals through collaborative work with other professionals. As I have been in the program, I have noticed that my confidence working with patients and other providers has increased greatly, and I am ready to take on new challenges. The pharmacists are ready to answer questions and ask follow-ups to questions to get interns more involved in the patient care process."
- Maggie Bruce (P2)
“Being a part of the intern program here at Children's Mercy has tremendously helped me in many ways in school. Doing medication histories in the emergency room and throughout the hospital helped me gain real life practice and experience interacting with patients. I was able to learn how to talk to patients with different types of backgrounds and social situations. It also helped prepare me for my first year OSCE exam. When exam time came, the skills came naturally to me since we had been doing it at work.”
- Mai Ly Nguyen (P3)
"Being a Pharmacy intern and Children's Mercy has given me the opportunity to apply what I have learned in school to real-life situations. I've had pharmacists talk me through the Code Blue protocol, which has helped me to learn the medications that are used and why they are chosen for emergency situations. From going over patient labs with the pharmacists, I have also started to recognize what may cause certain labs to be above or below average based on the patient’s condition and medication profile. In school we also practice patient interactions, and I'm very fortunate to be able to directly apply that to my experiences working with patients and their parents when I'm at work. I've really enjoyed having the chance to learn from the pharmacists I work with and think it has made me a stronger student.”
- Kristin Angelo (P4)
"My favorite thing about the program is that there are many opportunities for learning and growth. I also enjoy working with the pharmacists in different specialties. It allows us to be exposed to different areas and helps us get a feel of what each specialty does. There are also many opportunities to be involved in research projects lead by pharmacists in different areas."
- Mai Ly Nguyen (P3)
"I would definitely recommend the intern program at Children's Mercy to other students because the interns are given countless opportunities to advance their pharmacy education. While at Children's Mercy, I've been encouraged to do research, to participate in projects to improve the processes of the Inpatient Pharmacy, to attend rounds with the medical team, to teach parents about discharge medications, to interview parents about their child's medication history, to talk to parents about drug allergies and adverse reactions, to attend traumas and rapid responses to observe the pharmacist's responsibilities in emergent situations, and to shadow different pharmacists within the hospital to see how their clinical roles vary. Our program is innovative and hands-on, and the interns are able to greatly influence how we improve patient care."
- Morgan Beard (P4)
"My favorite part about my job as a clinical pharmacy intern was to be able to provide discharge medication teaching to patients and their families. I got a lot of opportunities to talk to the parents and help them with their children’s medication-related questions, and I enjoyed these meaningful, personal interactions. I also appreciated the wide variety of learning opportunities and settings I was exposed to, ranging from the emergency department, PICU, main pharmacy, NICU, IV rooms, to research, and many more. The Children's Mercy internship offers a well-rounded learning experience for pharmacy students."
- Patricia Hoover
"I am so appreciative of the clinical pharmacy intern program at Children's Mercy as it provided invaluable clinical, professional, and personal experiences that will continue to shape my career. The program encourages hands-on learning through interactions with patients, families, and healthcare professionals. Each experience enhanced my understanding of didactic material presented in school and served as foundation for residency. Children’s Mercy Hospital and the Clinical Pharmacy Intern program are, without a doubt, a wonderful asset to the pharmacy community. It really is all about the kiddos."
- Alannah Yoder (PGY-1)
“The intern program at Children’s Mercy opened many doors for me as a student. Not only was I able to learn about pediatric medications, but I was able to directly communicate with patients and caregivers through medication teachings and adverse drug reaction reviews. This provided me with the confidence I needed to excel in my clinical rotations and residency. Both the opportunities presented to the interns and the willingness of the preceptors to educate make the Children's Mercy intern program one of the best in the Kansas City area.”
- Annie Heble (PGY-1)