Hospital project exposes medical students to pharmacy practice

Abstract

An experiment in interprofessional education at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has taught pharmacists that medical students may not realize that they can turn to nonphysician staff members for their professional expertise. The experiment consisted of a two-week elective educational program for medical students that included hands-on sessions with staff pharmacists, respiratory therapists, nurses, and other members of the patient care team. Pharmacy preceptor Cathy Walker, coordinator of education and training for the department, described the experience for the pharmacists and the students as “walking in somebody else’s shoes.” Walker said five medical students who took the elective course spent a day this spring working alongside hospital pharmacists. She said the group started the day by attending a 90-minute session with a pharmacy administrator who provided an overview of pharmacy practice and how the medication-use process works at the hospital. “Then the medical students spent half a day with one of our point-of-care pharmacists,” she said. “Those are the pharmacists that are out on the nursing units and are responsible for everything from medication order entry to providing drug information, even looking for missing doses. So the medical student was basically shadowing that pharmacist for half a day.”